CRYSTAL, Minn.-- North Central Women's Cross Country placed four runners in the top ten to earn a season opening victory at the Early Bird Invitational held at Bassett Creek Park on Wednesday afternoon. Junior Catherine Mead led NCU with an individual race victory over the 5K course. NCU finished ahead of Upper Midwest Athletic Conference opponents Northwestern College and Crown College.
North Central got a strong team performance from its top five including two new comers joining National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) DII 2009 All-Americans Catherine Mead (Liberty Twp, Ohio/Cincinnati Christian), sophomore Michelle Hubbell (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas) and junior Carica Onyshuk (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) in the scoring. Freshman Kara Montanez (Carrollton, Ill./Carrollton) ran to a third place overall finish in the number two slot for NCU. Michelle Hubbell was seconds behind in fourth place and Carica Onyshuk ended in eighth place. Senior, first year runner Hannah Peyton (Floyd, Iowa/Floyd) ran to a 15th place finish to round out the top five for the Rams.
NCU will return to action next weekend at the St John's Invitational held in Collegeville, Minnesota. The women's race begins at 11:30am.
