Oct. 15, 1999
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern University women?s cross country team finished third out of 22 teams at the South Florida Invitational Friday afternoon.
The Wildcats scored 82 points, finishing behind only host South Florida (50 points) and the University of Idaho (55). Those were the only three schools under 100 for the meet ? Florida State was fourth with a score of 114 points.
The open meet was actually won by a non-collegian, Maria Otto, who ran under the USF Track Club name and broke the tape on the 5-kilometer course in 17:44.53. Among collegians, Mary Beth Ellis was fourth overall in a time of 18:20.47, while Karen Rogers was eighth in 18:28.37.
Jennifer Anderson and Rachel Evjen finished 19th and 20th, respectively, in 18:42.01 and 18:45.78, while Nicole Kuznia rounded out the Wildcat scorers by placing 31st in 19:09.59. Shannon McGowan came in less than two seconds behind Kuznia, in 19:11.08.
The women will next compete at the Big Ten Championships, which will be run at University Park, Pa., on Saturday, October 30. That kicks off the championship season for the Wildcats.