CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – On Saturday, Sept. 23, the Michigan State women’s cross country team traveled to Panorama Farms for the Virginia Invitational.
The Spartans had an impressive showing, placing seventh out of the twenty-three teams competing with 243 points. The No. 15 ranked Spartans, according to the USTFCCCA, fell behind No. 2 Northern Arizona, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 Virginia, No. 13 Washington, No. 12 Georgetown, and No. 26 Iowa State. The Spartans also finished above ranked schools including No. 5 Colorado, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 14 Providence, and No. 20 Ohio State.
Senior Katie Osika led the Spartans again, recording a 16:38.3 time for the 5K. Osika was named USTFCCCA women’s cross country National Athlete of the Week and Big Ten Athlete of the Week after a dominant performance at the Spartan Invitational. She made a statement after finishing in 12th place, only twenty seconds off of first-place finisher Elise Stearns of Northern Arizona.
Junior Makenna Veen placed 37th with a time of 17:00.4 followed by Kaitlyn Hynes, who placed 46th and ran a 17:06.2. Freshman Meghan Beute had an impressive race, running a 17:23.2 and earned 71st place. Eleanor Kendell and Emily Bardwell finished 79th and 80th respectively. Judith Rector finished 83rd, four-tenths of a second ahead of 84th-placed Lauren Freeland.
Keeping that momentum, the Spartans will travel to South Bend on Friday, Sep. 29, to partake in the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame.
