Freshman Courtney Oldenburg helped lead the Northern Illinois women's cross country team to a fourth-place finish Saturday, after placing eighth at the second annual Huskie Open. The Huskies finished the race in fourth place with a team score of 112 points.
Oldenburg (West Salem, Wis./West Salem) ran the NIU North 40 course in an eighth-place time of 19:27.53, finishing first for the Huskies. Her time in the five-kilometer race helped lead the Huskies to a fourth-place finish, falling behind Northwestern (35), Western Illinois (79) and UW-Milwaukee (89).
The Huskies beat out UW-Green Bay (129), St. Mary's College (134), Judson University (147), Iowa Western CC (197), and Chicago State (293) to claim their fourth-place title.
Sophomore Nancy Nieto came in second for the Huskies, with a 14th-place time of 20:03.37. Junior Sunsea Shaw finished closely behind her teammates with a time of 20:51.76, taking third for the Huskies and 24th overall.
Juniors Breanna Brevitt and Jackie Sciacero also ran well for the Huskies, finishing the race fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Huskies. Brevitt ran the course in a time of 21:19.33, while Sciacero finished the race with a time of 21:56.77.
"The girls didn't run as well as they could have today," assistant coach Mark McConeghey said. "However, we had a time trial here a few weeks ago, and everyone improved quite a bit from their previous times. I think we are moving in the right direction, but we still have to work on closing the gap between our first and fifth-place finishers."
