Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Results

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Nov. 14, 2015) - Led by the assertive frontrunning of senior Megan Costanzo, the North Central College women's cross country team turned in a seventh-place in the 40-team NCAA Division III Midwest Region Championship on Saturday, contested at Saukie Golf Course.

Costanzo made an earnest bid to claim the individual title on Saturday, hanging with race leaders Lucy Ramquist of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Sarah Bradley of Millikin University for the majority of the 6,000-meter (3.7-mile) race. Ramquist and Bradley broke free and claimed the top two spots in the field of 271 finishers, as Ramquist outleaned Bradley at the finish line to place first in 21 minutes, 16.2 seconds. Costanzo wound up finishing fifth in 21:23.9, putting her in position to claim one of the region's seven individual qualifying spots for next week's national championships in Winnecone, Wisconsin.

The Cardinals finished with 222 points in the meet. Fourth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis won the meet with 68 points, while the 19th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh finished second with 106 to claim the other automatic national qualifier. The 16th-ranked University of Chicago placed third (126), followed by the 23rd-ranked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (126) and 34th-ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire (130).

Amanda Cortese was North Central's second finisher, placing 27th (22:08.3), followed byRebecca Kaefring in 41st (22:35.6), Helen Majer in 70th (23:01.2) and Allison Hartman in 79th (23:14.9).

The full list of team and individual qualifiers for the Division III National Championship will be announced at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday at ncaa.com.