OSHKOSH, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's cross country team competed at the Pre-National Invitational and the AAE Open Race both hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wis. on Saturday.
Pre-National Results | AAE Invitational Results | Photos
It was a nearly perfect day for racing with temps in the low 40's, sunshine and a light breeze for both races, which helped make both races very fast. The Blugolds ran their top ten women in the Pre-National race and the rest of the team competed in the AAE Invitational race.
The field of 46 teams in the NCAA Division III Pre-National race included eleven nationally ranked programs from across the country. The Blugolds, who are currently ranked 26th nationally, had a good day placing 8th overall. Lucy Ramquist (Sr.-River Falls) continued to lead the Blugolds finishing second of 404 runners with a 6K personal best time of 21:17 and just missing the UW-Eau Claire school record held by Blugold Alum and All-American Ashlyn Mauer who ran 21:15 on this same course in 2012.
Seniors Clara Williamson (Skokie, IL) and Katryna Williams (Watertown, WI) had impressive performances both running personal best times of 22:10 and 22:35 to place 30th and 52nd respectively. The Blugolds also displayed how strong their younger runners are with three freshmen finishing in the top seven including Lexi Tremble (Muskego, WI) who finished 111th (23:11), Morgan Marek (Muskego, WI) was 120th (23:15), and Karen Gomez (Chatfield, MN) finished 134th (23:21).
UW-Eau Claire showed they are one of the deeper teams in the nation by placing second of 21 teams in the AAE Open Race. Gretchen Berg (Jr.-Arrowhead, WI) led the way placing seventh of 240 runners with a 6K personal best time of 23:13. Rounding out the top five were Erika Owens (So.-Chilton, WI) - 12th (23:29), Kelsey Jaeger (Sr.-Waukesha, WI/West) - 13th (23:30), Emily Jaeger (Fr.-Fall Creek, WI) - 19th (23:47) and Katie Wood (Jr.-Milwaukee, WI/South) - 24th (23:54).
The team will be competing at the "City Wells" 5K in Eau Claire Friday, October 23 with the women's race starting at 4 p.m. followed by the men at 4:45 pm.
