Right when Earl was about to lead a slew of runners (including Hessler) up a steep hill, Oklahoma State’s Taylor Roe and Molly Born calmly placed themselves in front at the climb’s base and took control of the chase pack. The bigger problem was that the Cowgirls were putting the stamp on a swift response after a conservative start. Northwestern’s back scorers were starting to fall behind, but Hessler, Earl, Bartolotto and Anna Delgado were still in the race’s top 25 through 2,500 meters. That, of course, put the Wildcats in first place.Īs the chase pack went through the first-mile marker in a little under 5:10, it hit some of the rolling hills. A little over a kilometer in, Northwestern’s entire lineup was within two seconds of each other, ranging from fourth place to 16th. DePaul’s Olivia Borowiak and Nina Amicon had tried to create even more chaos by separating themselves from the field, but NU had a huge pack just a second behind them. The 6K course starts out with a wide, steep decline, which Northwestern’s top seven runners used to firmly position themselves in the immediate chase pack. However, in what might have been a concerted effort to take a shot at shaking up the team standings, the Wildcats got out hard. Given Oklahoma State’s experience with its home course, the favorite possessed that advantage in addition to its abundance of talent. Northwestern struggled on the terrain when it raced there for the NCAA title meet last year. The six-kilometer course at Stillwater is one of the nation’s toughest, largely due to the steepness and length of its inclines and downhills.

Ava Earl, Kalea Bartolotto and Katherine Hessler earned All-Region honors, with Earl punching a ticket to Nationals in Charlottesville, Virginia on Nov. Northwestern finished third in the 32-team field, but the top of its lineup thrived. Yet, that may have helped the ‘Cats race more freely at Oklahoma State.

It appeared that they wouldn’t have much of a chance at securing an at-large bid barring anything crazy.

18 Iowa State having established themselves as the prohibitive favorites to lock up the region’s two automatic bids to the NCAA Championship, the Wildcats were projected to finish a distant third. Heading into its Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma last Friday, Northwestern didn’t have a ton to lose.

Best nj sportsbook reddit