TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (Blugolds.com) – With two All-American finishes, the UW-Eau Claire women's cross country team took fifth place out of 32 teams at the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship at the LaVern Gibson Course today.
Ashlyn Mauer (Sr.-Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) led Eau Claire as she took sixth place with a time of 21:21.8. Madi Sawyer (Jr.-Champlin, Minn./Park) also claimed All-American status (top 35 finishers) when she took 30th place with a time of 21:54.3. The pair joins eight other Blugold NCAA All-Americans. Most recently, Eau Claire had three in 2010. In program history, just 18 individuals have earned All-American honors, including Mauer and Sawyer.
As a team, the Blugolds finished with 272 points. Johns Hopkins (Md.) won its first NCAA national title with 158 points and Wartburg College (Iowa) was second with 221. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) was third with 233 points and Williams College (Mass.) was fourth with 266 points.
UW-Oshkosh's Christy Cazzola won the individual national title with a time of 20:53.3, more than 15 seconds in front of the rest of the field.
Also scoring for Eau Claire today were Steph Sjostrom (Sr.-Champlin, Minn./Park) in 41st place with a time of 22:08.1, Elaina Meurer (Fr.-Fond Du Lac, Wis./St. Mary's Springs Academy) in 152nd place with a time of 23:05.4 and Kelsey Jaeger (So.-Waukesha, Wis./West) with a time of 23:11.0 in 164th place.
The Blugolds also two other runners competing today, Monica Emerson (So.-Somerset, Wis.) and Nikki Rendler (Jr.-Lodi, Wis.). They finished 208th and 237th, respectively.
Today's finish was the Blugolds' best since 2010 when they took fourth. A season ago they were 17th while winning the national title in 2009. Eau Claire was also fifth in 2008 after taking eighth in 2007.
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