Northfield, MN. - The St. Scholastica Women's Cross Country team reentered the NCAA North Region USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll top 10 last week, following a third-place finish in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference championship on November 2. This marked the second time they secured the tenth spot in the rankings this season. They had something to defend and prove as the 2024 NCAA North Regional starter's gun fired at Carleton College in Northfield on Saturday.
On the course, a battle with a familiar foe forced the Saints to dig deep to match their reputation and bring home a Top 10 finish for the second straight year in the North Regional.

How it Happened
The top-ranked Eagles of Wisconsin La Crosse trailed St. Olaf by 42 points after one kilometer of racing, but took control a thousand meters later, leading by 10 points at the 2km mark, then opening up a thirty-six point lead by the finish to claim the team title and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships with 63 points to St. Olaf's 99.  Defending NCAA Champions and meet hosts, the Knights of Carleton College finished third with 114 points.
Carleton's Hannah Preisser won handily to take the individual crown in a time of 21:24.6.  Wisconsin Stout's duo rounded out the podium spots with Brekkyn Lammert finishing second in 22:00.2, and McKayla Felton finishing third in 2:04.2. 
The Saints were chasing their coach's poll ranking and their 9th-place finish in 2023-a program-best since moving to the nationally prominent North Region in 2021. 
At the first kilometer, the Saints were on their heels, sitting in 15th place of 34 teams and trailing MIAC foes Gustavus Adolphus in 9th place by 99 points. UW Oshkosh, Bethel, St. Benedict, Carthage, and St. Norbert all outpaced the Saints early. But a kilometer later, the Saints moved up to 13th, dropping their deficit to the Gusites in 10th place to 54 points, but still trailing St. Ben's to sit 5th among MIAC teams.  
By the 4km mark, the Saints had clawed their way back into 11th, moving past St. Benedict and trailing Gustavus, by just 12 points.
With a kilometer to go, the Saints pulled even with Gustavus to share the 10th spot,--tied at 307 points apiece--but the Saints would have lost in a tiebreaker had the race ended there. The Saints found their finishing kick, put 5 points between them, and the Gusites took 10th place. It is the second straight year the Saints women finished in the top 10 in the North Regional, confirming their pre-race coaches poll ranking.
Grace McCormick (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld HS) led the Saint's scoring finishing 42nd in a time of 23:15.4.  Greta Leitheser put in a huge surge to move from 91st at the 1km mark to finish 47th in a time of 23;25.0. Regan DeWitt (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS) went out in an attempt at a performance that might get her to nationals as an individual and led the Saints at all intermediate marks before 5km. Still, the brisk early pace proved to be too great, hanging on to cross the finish line just steps behind Leitheiser in 49th place with a time of 23:25.0. Kelsey Johannes (Anchorage, Alaska/West Anchorage HS) crossed 4th for the Saints in 73rd in 24;04.8. Running in her first NCAA Regionals, sophomore Mollykate Hagen delivered a landmark day, buttoning up the Saint's scoring, finishing in 120th place in 24:57.8, with a 34-second personal best 6km time.

A Word from Coach Salmela
"This was a wonderful team effort," head coach Chad Salmela glowed. "Regionals is a different beast.  So many factors go into a late season race, and you just need to have faith the teammates will cover for each other, and today, in a couple of big scoring aspects, that happened, and it was awesome."
At-large teams will be named for the NCAA Championships next Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Based on the likely scenarios, the pathways for an individual qualifier from the Saints are unlikely.
"This has been a great season," reflected Salmela on this being the probable conclusion of the Saint's season. "We showed ourselves what we can do when we work together and let things happen. We did some things this program has never done before, and that's always rewarding."