Coming into the 2025 NCAA North Regional, the Saints women's runners had opportunities.
The 10^th place team in 2024, the Saints had a different lineup and new profile but nearly the same firepower and potential.  They peaked at 8th in the pre-season USTFCCCA North Region rankings, dropped to 9^th in week 1, and never returned to the rankings, as they struggled to post full scores in uncommonly hot race days forcing scorers to abandon races each meet.
With the temperatures cooled down, the Saints got about the best weather day for a meet all year.  With the sun shining and the temperatures in the mid-50s Fahrenheit, the table was set to see what the team could do at full gas.
For Regan Niemi (Bemidji, MN/Bemidji HS), the MIAC Championships 8^th place finish and PR time of 22:18 put her among those who had the exhibited ability to qualify individually for the NCAA National meet next week in South Carolina.  She also knew she would likely have to run the 6km on this day faster than she ever has before to ensure it.
Coming off of a 30-second drop in her PR two weeks ago, she entered the race hopeful and took no chances at the gun.  She joined the leaders at the front of the field immediately. 
Five of the seven Saints on the start ran between 30 seconds and just over a minute faster, respectively, at the MIAC Championships two weeks ago.  As a group, those five shaved a total of 4 minutes and 32 seconds off of their collective previous PR times in total.  Could they take another step forward after such a performative leap two weeks ago?
Niemi went out fast and marked the leaders.  Sitting in the back of the lead group of roughly 20 runners at the first split at 1.3k, she was just 1.5 seconds from second place and 9 seconds off the lead.  From there she could respond to any situation, trying to stay in the vicinity of roughly the top 15-to-20, to have a shot at ending up the 7^th individual finisher to advance not as a member of a team.
Perennial national-challenger Hannah Preisser of Carleton started to pull away with earnest just past the half-way mark and never looked back, winning on a solo attack that never got huge in terms of a time gap, but nobody ever really closed on her either from the halfway mark.  She won by 8 seconds in the end in a time of 21:40.2. 
University of Wisconsin La Crosse's Lucy Duchac finished second in 21:48.0 while Wisconsin Eau Claire's Molly Heidorn took third in 21:51.9.
LaCrosse won with 45 points over MIAC Champions Carleton with 75. Eau Claire finished third with 123.
Niemi's hot early pace started to challenge her down the stretch as a lead pack of 10 separated by a few seconds from a chase pack Niemi inhabited from the second half of the race.  The final two kilometers became an every-woman-for-herself onslaught for the finish line and Niemi was unable to move up the field, ultimately crossing the line in 24^th in a time of 22:48.4, her second fastest 6km performance of her career.
Kaia Osmundson (Chisago Lakes, MN/Chisago Lakes HS) went out equally aggressively, holding down 37^th at the first time check at 1.3k—an auspicious start for the freshman compared to her historical finishes thus far.  But she would prove up to the task, hanging onto the second spot on the team scoring, crossing the line in 46^th place with a new personal best spot in Saints scoring order (2^nd) and 6k time of 23:29.8, putting her on the program's top 20 all-time list in 19^th position.
Abby Wood (Circle Pines, MN/Centennial HS) scored third for the Saints in 51^st place, in a time of 23:37.5, while Mollykate Hagen finished 92^nd in a time of 24:21.5, just six tenths of a second and 2 places ahead of Grace McCorrmick, scoring for the Saints for the second time this season and posting a season best 24:22.1.
The Saints were locked in one of the tightest and most exciting team races at a regional championship in program history, finishing just 3 points shy of the program's North Regional best 10^th place from 2024..   
The Saints checked in at 1.3k in 11^th with 336 points, just one point behind the familiar Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus, with whom the Saints established a friendly rivalry in 2024, coming back after trailing to the Gusties early at both the MIAC and North Regional in 2024, only snatch the final spot on the MIAC podium and the final spot in the top 10 at the '24 regional, as well, from the Gusties.
But Gustavus handed the Saints—and several other teams—some of their own 2024 medicine, surging all the way up to 5^th, behind MIAC powerhouse St. Olaf in 4^th place, for a spectacular 2025 finish.
The Saints slipped past Macalester and Concordia Moorhead early—both teams who toppled the Saints in 4^th and 5^th, respectively, two weeks ago at MIAC.  By the second split time at 3.3k, the Saints put both teams in the rearview mirror by over 30 and 70 points, respectively.  But Bethel, 7^th at MIAC, were stepping it up and having a great run, creating a new MIAC rivalry in the process.
At 4.4k, the Saints were in position to set a program-best and second-straight top-ten finish in the North region, sitting in 9^th place, sharing a score of 298 points, with Bethel in 8^th.  Bethel was packing their five scorers in the margins between Osmundson in 2^nd scoring position for the Saints and McCormick in 5^th scoring position.  But Bethel had a tighter spread, with their 6^th runner 8 seconds ahead of the Saints 6^th runner, putting Bethel in 8^th on tie-breaker and the Saints in 9^th, each with 298 points with a mile left to race.
But that's not all.  Wisconsin Oshkosh sat just 2 points back with an even 300 score, sitting on the back of both Bethel and the Saints, in 10^th, and Ripon in 11^th place, just 12 points back of the deadlocked MIAC rivals.   
If the Saints wanted their regional-best 9^th place finish, it was going to be by millimeters. The gap between Oshkosh, Bethel, and the Saints for a top-10 finish, at that point, would flip if any one runner from one team switched one place with a single runner on either of the other's team.  They all had a mile to do it.
Down the stretch it was Oshkosh who jumped from 10^th to 8^th at the finish with 296 points, flipping from 10^th at 4.4k to 8^th with an improvement of just 4 points.
Ripon closed well, too, jumping from 11^th to 9^th by shedding 12 points in the last mile to claim 9^th place, 2 points behind Oshkosh.  Bethel ceded 5 points to Ripon to finish 9^th, 11 points out of 8^th with the Saints 4 points behind Bethel in 11^th.
"Oh you've got to love big, championship cross country in the best DIII region in the country," glowed Saints Head Coach, Chad Salmela after a thriller.  "That was so tight, and fun!"
The Saints struggled most of the regular season with real, usable feedback from the extreme heat they faced and subsequent rotating cast of scorers and athletes needing to abandon for health reasons. But Saturday, he felt redeemed.
"I see what our season gave us, and it was a big challenge, which is why I ultimately love my job and why I think most of these young folks love to do this sport," glowed the coach. 
Salmela believes it comes down to culture and caring—both things he feels himself improving upon as he ages as a coach.  "The culture has to get you there.  It's that simple.  I've always exuded culture as a coach, but I'm not convinced I've always stewarded the best culture.  I think I'm a work in progress, still improving.  And I think that improvement of setting the tone better is showing up in our teams."
Salmela feels this 2025 Saints cross country season—his tenth—is a turning point for him, and ultimately his teams.  "Experience is important and I'm not downplaying my experience as a coach.  But I feel like I am reaching a new spot after 25-plus years of coaching of recognizing where I can still improve.  I feel these 2025 teams are great manifestations of that personal growth as their leader.  I think today was a synthesis of all those very things for me.  It makes me proud."
The national championship qualifying teams and individuals will be named Monday, November 17^th.  While a mathematical possibility exists for Niemi to qualify as one of the top 7 individuals, it would require some highly unlikely precedents to be met in the team selection for the NCAA championships.   In most-realistic terms, the 2025 Saints women's cross country season is at an end.
 
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