ROCK ISLAND, IL -- The Saints women's cross country team moved up eight spots between mile one and the finish line, to finish 24^th in a nationally-competitive field of 35 teams at the Interregional hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.

Coming off of a strong showing 28^th two weeks ago in the Pre-National meet at Carleton College, the Saints entered their second straight national ranking meet in good form with nearly their full scoring roster from Carleton intact. At the mile mark, the Saints sat in 32^nd of the 35 teams, exposed by the blistering pace of the elite field. But as the race wore on, the Saints women came roaring back from 31^st at the halfway mark, to 25^th with a kilometer to go, to end the day in 24^th place.

Regan Niemi (Bemidji, MN/Bemidji HS) led the team as she has all season, posting her season-best and second all-time 6k, crossing the finish line in 82^nd place in 22:32.0. Abby Wood (Circle Pines, MN/Centennial HS) ran a 15-second personal best 6k time of 22:58.3, her first mark under 23 minutes and moves into 10^th all time on the Saints 6k list, to score second for the Saints 127^th.  Katelyn Torrel (Gilbert, MN/Virginia/Rock Ridge HS) ran her fastest 6k by eight-tenths of a second, scoring 3^rd in 154^th place in 23:15.1.  Grace McCormick (Duluth, MN/Denfeld HS) crossed the line in 182^nd in a time of 23:35.4, and Della Bettendorf (Proctor, MN/Proctor HS) ran a season best 24:33.5, finishing 237^th to round out the Saints scoring with a total of 697 points.

Nationally-ranked #3 University of Wisconsin LaCrosse won handily with 57 points over #5-ranked University of Chicago's 137, while 7^th ranked Washington University (St. Louis) confirmed the polls in third with 177 points.

The Saints finished 7^th among NCAA North Region teams and second among MIAC teams.

The team will train through homecoming week as they prepare for the season's-highlight MIAC Conference Championship, October 31^st at St. Olaf.