At one of the most prestigious track events in the nation, several Wildcats impressed.
With the season winding down, Northwestern cross country continued a stellar “run” that included several personal and program records being shattered during March and April. With April coming to a close, the season did as well, but not before the Wildcats took on the famed Penn Relays. Going up against the best of the best, several Northwestern runners proved that they belonged.
Of course, Ava Earl led the pack for the Wildcats. Earl owns several program records already, and her race in the College Women’s 5000m Championship proved that she’s one of the top runners in the nation. Earl’s time of 15:42.72 was good enough to finish second in the meet, just four-tenths of a second behind Elon’s Jette Beermann. Earl started the race in fifth, but slowly built up throughout the meet and ran the final 400 meters in just under 67 seconds.
Earl wasn’t the only Wildcat to succeed in the 5000m championship. Pippa Nuttall finished 24th with a time of 16:33.38, a full 18 slots ahead of her heat placement. Nuttall won the third heat overall despite being in 13th halfway through thanks to a spectacular back stretch. Katherine Hessler and Ava Criniti also finished in the top-30, with Hessler putting up a time of 16:41.26 and Criniti finishing in 16:44.74. Wisconsin was the only other school to put four runners in the top 30.
In the College Women’s 10,000m Championship, Northwestern also found success. Kalea Bartolotto led the way for the Wildcats, finishing with a time of of 34:20.46. Bartolotto hung around the top-10 for most of the race, and while she hit a bit of wall after 8000 meters, she still finished 13th overall. As for Fiona Lenth, she was all the way down in 21st (out of 24 runners) after the first 400 meters, but kept clawing back. Lenth improved over the course of the race, putting forth her best split — a sizzling 1:21.37 — in the final 400 meters. Her improvement over the race was good enough to earn her 17th place.
The Wildcats continued to wrap up their season at the Len Paddock Open in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Much like at the Penn Relays, Northwestern earned podium spots in key events. Rachel Sessa set a new personal best with a time of 4:38.41, good enough for second in the 1500-meter race, While Sessa did finish over a second behind Akron’s Megan Hipple, she was also the only other runner to finish with a time better than 4:40:00.
In the 3000-meter race, Northwestern got another podium slot, this one at the very top. Adele Magaud easily won the event with a blistering time of 10:05.05, over two and a half seconds ahead of her closest competitor. In fact, Magaud was one of just two runners to post a time under 10:12:00. Two other Wildcats also finished in the top-10, with both finishing in under 10:32:00. Skye Ellis closed her freshman campaign with a great run of 10:23.42, which earned her seventh place in the competition. As for Emily Casaclang, she finished in ninth place thanks to a run of 10:31.49. In total, Northwestern put up four top-10 finishes in Michigan, and five overall over the weekend.
There’s now just one meet remaining on the schedule — the Fighting Illini Tune-Up on May 4 in Champaign. The meet will provide one final chance for Earl to continue her brilliant stretch of running, and will also serve as the curtain call for runners like Bartolotto, Casaclang, Magaud, Nuttall and Sessa. Don’t worry too much about the future though; with seven first-years on the squad, Northwestern will surely be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.