Skye Ellis led the way for NU, cementing herself among the record books in the process.
Records were meant to be broken. But it’s not every day that the same record broken twice in one season.
Northwestern women’s cross country had a record-setting day on Friday evening in the Badger Classic hosted by Wisconsin, going all-out in its final outdoor competition of the calendar year.
After nearly a day of events, Northwestern finally got its first chance at competition in the 5,000-meter run, with six different Wildcat runners squaring off. And with a big group of runners competing, Northwestern showed out well.
Despite technically running unattached, Northwestern runners Ava Earl, Holly Smith and Jackie Holman gave the ‘Cats an outright finish, ending in first, second and third, respectively. Earl, a senior, competed in her final race as a Wildcat, finishing with a time of 15:55.12—just 13 seconds behind her personal best in the race accomplished in April 2024.
Competing officially under the Northwestern name, Mia Mraz (seventh place, 16:51.04), Kailey Zagst (ninth, 17:22.93), Audrey Bannister (11th, 18:02.34) and Whitney Curie (13th, 18:24.88) all performed admirably as well, with each posting personal bests despite not earning podium finishes.
But the star of the show on Friday was none other than Skye Ellis. Not long after the 5,000-meter run had concluded, the 1500 meter run was held to end the day at the Badger Classic. Competing for Northwestern were three runners — Ellis, Anna Hightower and Deepti Choudhury — all looking to make a splash in the final race before summer for the ‘Cats.
Ellis showed out, running a time of 4:19.71 — good for a third-place finish — to shatter the Northwestern record in the 1500-meter run that she set not a month earlier in the Spartan Invitational. The Australian ends an unbelievable 2024-25 campaign on the right foot.
Alongside her, Hightower finished just behind in fourth place, posting a time of 4:27.87 that was a personal best. She finished just outside the podium, but performed impressively nonetheless. Choudhury finished in just over five minutes, good for 16th place in the race.
Northwestern cross country takes a break from competition for the summer and is set to return to the track again this coming fall.