Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Team Scores
Individual Results

WARRENVILLE, Ill. (Oct. 30, 2021) – The North Central College women's cross country team turned in a third-place team performance at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Championship Meet on Saturday and snagged the Individual Championship title, the Newcomer of the Year Award, and four All-CCIW honors.

Jenna Fiore took control of the race early on, latching onto first-place team, Elmhurst College's Alyssa Rafuse but beat her in the final sprint to the finish line to snag the Individual Championship title in a time of 22 minutes and 24.4 seconds – a 14-second personal best for the champion. 

Rachael Vaccaro was the next Cardinal across the line, also with a 14-second personal best to finish 18th overall in a time of 23 minutes and 30.6 seconds. Just behind Vaccaro was Julianne Billings (23:32.2) in 19th place with another personal best. 

Julia Benes (23:40.7) was the first freshman among all nine teams to cross the finish line – doing so with a seven second personal best – to finish 23rd overall and to be recognized as the CCIW Newcomer of the Year. Benes joined Vaccaro and Billings on the All-CCIW second team, while Fiore made All-CCIW first team.

Also turning in personal best finishes were Madzia Myrda (24:03.6) in 31st and Hannah Kirby (24:04.0) in 32nd. Nicole Brandy (24:16.7) rounded out the Cardinals' top-seven finishing in 37th.

Elmhurst University took the team title with 30 points while host team Wheaton College took second with 75 points. North Central compiled 92 points for third, followed by Illinois Wesleyan's 108 points in fourth and Millikin University's 127 points to round out the top-five.

North Central will take advantage of one final tune-up on Nov. 4 as they host the Red/White Invitational back at St. James Farm in Warrenville. The race is co-ed and is set to start at 4 p.m.

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