Titans Place Sixth At Midwest Open

The UW-Oshkosh women's cross country team opened its season with a sixth-place finish at the eight-team UW-Parkside Midwest Open held Saturday (Sept. 13) in Somers.

The Titans scored 148 points in the 5K race that featured three NCAA Division I teams and two from D II.

D II Winona State University (Minn.) won the Midwest Open with 31 points. D I Oakland University (Mich.) placed second with 65 points, followed by D I UW-Milwaukee with 91, D II UW-Parkside with 94 and D III St. Norbert with 131. Trailing UW-Oshkosh in seventh and eighth places were D I UW-Green Bay with 167 points and D III Beloit College with 214.

The top five UW-Oshkosh runners finished with a 12-place spread in the 125-runner field. Only Winona State University (10-place spread) had a tighter pack.

Hannah Kuenzi paced UW-Oshkosh with a 25th-place finish in a time of 19:35.8. Kylee Verhasselt took 26th place with a time of 19:36.1, followed by Cheyenne Moore in 28th (19:41.0), Leah Rendflesh in 32nd (19:47.7) and Danica Harrison in 37th (20:02.5). Among D III competitors, Kuenzi, Verhasselt and Moore placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Courtney Holland (40th place in 20:08.7) and Rhea Fiorita (42nd place in 20:13.4) finished in the sixth and seventh spots for the Titans.

Also finishing in the top 100 for UW-Oshkosh were Michaela Welsh in 55th (20:20.7), Tess Harvatine in 66th (20:36.3), Isabella Tremonti in 69th (20:38.2), Emma Link in 74th (20:46.6), Kristen Linzmeier in 82nd (21:00.1), Katya Wick in 88th (21.12.0), Jessi Stamn in 92nd (21:20.7) and Erica Munyan in 93rd (21:24.8).

Oakland University's Ashley Burr won the Midwest Open with a time of 18:20.2.

UW-Oshkosh's next meet is the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Saturday (Sept. 27).