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Results

WINNECONNE, Wis. (Nov. 19, 2011)-- Back at the NCAA Division III Championships after a four-year hiatus, the North Central College women's cross country team recorded a 16th-place finish on Saturday at the Lake Breeze Golf Course.

The Cardinals scored 413 points to finish 16th in the team standings, just the team's second trip to the national championships. North Central placed 13th at the 2006 Championships. Washington University in Saint Louis captured the team title, besting the 32-team field after accumulating 70 points while Middlebury College (Vt.) was second with a score of 111. Williams College (Mass.), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (Calif.) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology rounded out the top five in the team standings.

Krista Cota led the Cardinals, placing 45th overall, traversing the 6,000-meter course in 21 minutes, 52.74 seconds. Kala Bingham and Alicia Zimmerman crossed the tape back-to-back in 57th and 58th places, respectively, with less than a second seperating the two. Bingham clocked a 21:58.07 while Zimmerman finished in 21:58.72. Maggie Lapinski was 187th in 22:56.63 while Amanda Marek rounded out the top five in 221st place (23:17.99). Jordan Wagner finished in 23:34.53 while Amy Schwent crossed the tape in 23:57.76.

"We were very excited. This group had dedicated themselves to getting back here (to Nationals). The biggest thing for us is we weren't fading, our fitness and work ethic has been outstanding," said head coach Mahesh Narayanan. "It's a very coachable group and at the end of the day they want to compete at the highest level."

North Central earned an at-large spot at the National Championships by virtue of its fourth place finish at last weekend's Midwest Regional held at the Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Ill. The Cardinals tallied 150 points with Cota, Zimmerman and Bingham all capturing All-Region accolades, placing fifth, seventh and 30th, respectively. The performance came just two weeks after the Cardinals captured their third straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship, winning the league title on Oct. 29 at Chicago's Montrose Harbor.