The UIU women's cross country team competed at their last meet of the 2019 season on Saturday morning at the NCAA Central Regional. The event was hosted by Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., and the Peacocks finished 29th in the 32-team field.
The Peacocks were led by Madison Brownrigg who finished 73rd individually. The junior ran the 6K race in 23:09.0 to break the four-year old school record set by Bethani Jacobsen (23:32.55) at the 2015 NCAA Central Regional.
No. 7 Augustana University (41) edged No. 5 University of Mary (50) by nine points to secure the regional title after finishing runner-up to the Marauders at the NSIC Championships earlier this season. The Vikings had all five runners finish in the top 15 led by Nicolette Schmidt who finished third with a 21:25.4 race. UMary's second place team finish was fueled by Ida Narbuvoll's individual championship (20:08.2) and Kayla Ogle's second place time (21:23.0). Pittsburg State (185) won a tight battle over Winona State University (190) to earn the final automatic nationals berth.
Upper Iowa's runners averaged a time of 25:03 to tally 780 points. Serianna Dehmlow came in second for the Peacocks with a 156th place finish thanks to a 24:56.6 time. Christina Shafranski covered the 6K course in a time of 25.20.3 to place 178th, Ashley Donovan crossed the finish line in 25:26.8 to place 188th, and Sidney Schnor finished 210th in a time of 26:26.0
The NCAA DII National Cross Country Championships will be held on Sat., Nov. 23 in Sacramento, Calif. The top-3 men's and women's teams at each of the eight regional championships will compete along with ten additional teams selected as at-large bids.
