Despite the cold temperatures, Northwestern’s indoor track season is off to a hot start.
After over two months off, Northwestern cross country is finally back in action. With frigid temperatures blanketing most of the nation, the Wildcat runners are no doubt incredibly grateful that this season is for indoor track. While this season is a short one — the final meet on the team schedule for 2024-25 as of this writing is on February 15 — there’s still a lot of opportunities for Northwestern’s runners to find success.
And they took full advantage of those opportunities in Seattle over the weekend. The UW Preview shows that this Wildcat team is going to pick up right where it left off after closing the cross country season with a third-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional in a meet that saw three of Jill Miller’s squad take home all-Region honors. There weren’t any postseason honors to gain in Washington, but there were a lot of runners who etched themselves into program lore.
The first was Holly Smith. The graduate student found massive success in the 3000 meter run, putting forth a blazing time of 9:20.32. That mark climbs highly on the Englishwoman’s personal record book as well — it’s a new personal best for her by nearly eight seconds. It’s also a mark that only three other runners in the entire history of Northwestern’s program have ever surpassed.
Aside from Smith’s time, now fourth-best in Wildcat annals, there were two other runners who put up times that will sit comfortably in the program’s top 10. Skye Ellis was on Smith’s tail the whole way, and her time of 9:21.85 was good enough for 12th at the meet. The sophomore’s time compares even more favorably to Northwestern history — it’s the fifth-best time any Wildcat runner has ever achieved in the 3000 meter.
As for the sixth-best 3k time in program history? That was ALSO achieved in Seattle on Friday courtesy of Chloe Wellings, who, of course, was right behind her teammates all run long. Wellings’ time of 9:22.65 earned her 14th place at the meet, but sixth place in Northwestern’s record books. She also sealed another impressive mark for the team as Northwestern was the only team at the UW Preview to put three runners in the top 15 for the 3000 meter (though Stanford did put a pair of runners in the top 10).
The Wildcats continued to find success in the 1 mile run on Saturday. In this run, Ellis led the way. She was the only Northwestern runner to finish in the top 20 in both events, and her scorching time of 4:44.65 was less than 10 seconds off the top seven. The time was top seven, however, in Northwestern history. Indeed, Ellis now holds the fourth-best time in Wildcat lore over one mile, marking her second top-five run in program history in a two-day span.
Smith and Wellings were no slouches themselves in the shorter run. Both runners easily finished in the top 35, with Smith nabbing 28th and Wellings taking 32nd. Yet the separation in placement belies a ferocious competition for the best time — Smith’s finish of 4:48.48 beat out Wellings’ time of 4:49.76 by under eight-tenths of a second. And they’re now sandwiched together in Northwestern’s record books. Smith and Wellings now sit at sixth and seventh in Wildcats’ history, just behind Ellis’ spot in fifth.
Overall, it was a tremendously successful weekend in Washington for Northwestern cross country. Aside from all the record setters, other Northwestern runners moved up in their own personal books. Most notably, Anna Hightower took 44th in the mile run with a new personal best of 4:57.01. Hightower, along with Katherine Hessler, also finished in the top 35 in the 3000 meter run.
The Wildcats will get a chance to build on their great weekend in 10 days when they take on the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis.