ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire women's cross country team took home ninth-place honors at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Saturday hosted by Augustana College at Saukie Golf Course today.

NCAA Regional Website | Results

Eau Claire scored 265 team points. The University of Chicago won the meet with 60 while fellow WIAC school UW-La Crosse took second with 101 points. Both Chicago and UW-La Crosse automatically qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship.

For the first time all year, Lucy Ramquist (So.-River Falls, Wis.) was the first Blugold to cross the finish line, doing to in 23:01.1 over the duration of 6,000-meters to nab 45th place out of 282 runners. 

Sydney Pretasky (Fr.-La Crosse, Wis./Central) also broke into the top-two on the team for the first time, coming in 49th place in a time of 23:07.6. 

Alana Jenkins (Sr.-Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) came in right behind Pretasky in 52nd with a time of 23:12.7.

Nikki Rendler (Sr.-Lodi, Wis) and Melody Becker (Fr.-Osseo, Wis.) finished right next to one another, placing 66th and 67th place to round out the scoring runners. Rendler's time was 23:22.6 while Becker's was 23:22.8.

The Blugolds will now wait a day to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship next Saturday in Hanover, Ind. Selections will be announced Sunday on NCAA.com.

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