WINNECONNE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's cross country team finished in 17^th place out of 32 teams at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championship at Lake Breeze Golf Club today.

Washington University (Mo.) won the national title with a score of 70 while Middlebury College (Vt.) was second with 111 and Williams College (Mass.) followed with 153 for third place. The Blugolds finished with 415 for 17^th place.

Individually, Chiara Del Piccolo of Williams took the top spot with a time of 20:52.08 on the 6,000-meter course. A total of 277 runners competed in this year's race.

For the Blugolds, Madi Sawyer (So.-Champlin, Minn./Park) led the group of her seven teammates as she took 94^th place with a time of 22:16.29. A season ago at nationals she finished 133^rd with a time of 22:40.

Coming in next for Eau Claire was Ashlyn Mauer (Jr.-Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) with a time of 22:23.59 to finish in 113^th place. Last year she took 129^th place with a time of 22:38.

In 122^nd place was Steph Sjostrom (Jr.-Champlin, Minn./Park) with a time of 22:27.08 while Alyssa Sybilrud (Sr.-Savage, Minn./Burnsville) was 127^th with a mark of 22:29.81. In 2009 and 2010, Sybilrud came away from nationals with All-American honors, which is awarded to the top 35 overall finishers.

Also for the Blugolds, Lucy Ramquist (Fr.-River Falls, Wis.) finished in 144^th place while Kacey Rindy (Sr.-Fennimore, Wis.) was 172^nd and Nikki Rendler (So.-Lodi, Wis.) was 248^th.

Eau Claire closes out a season where it won its fifth straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship and took second at the NCAA Midwest Regional.

-KM-