The Belles placed 15th at the 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The 33-team NCAA Great Lakes Regional marked Saint Mary’s last race of the season, as it finished with an overall team score of 463 to beat MIAA rivals Alma and Albion both by 12 points. No. 12 Hope won the title at 112, while No. 25 Calvin finished close behind with a score of 124. Both MIAA members, the champion and runner-up will advance to the 2015 NCAA Division III Championships this Saturday.
Junior Brittany Beeler continued her impressive streak of consistency Saturday, once again finishing the top Belle in 16th with a season-best time of 22:36.7. Beeler’s time earned her an All-Region medal for the second consecutive year, the third-highest individual finish for a Belle an NCAA Regional race. It also represents the fourth-fastest time at a regional Saint Mary’s history.
Senior Allie Danhof closed out her college career in 102nd at 24:18.2. Danhof was less than a second away from placing her within the top 100 in a field of almost 250 runners. Behind Danhof, freshman Mary Philbin took 109th with a 24:28.1, while junior Colleen Ogren claimed 118th with a 24:44.6. Ogren almost edged an Alma runner to snag 117th but ran out of space to complete the final pass. Freshman Adele Edmonds rounded out the overall team score in 128th with a time of 24:52.2.
Following the top five, junior Kaitlyn Alessi posted a time of 25:16.8, which placed her 0.1 ahead of an Albion runner for 147th, just six-tenths of a second from 146th. Sophomore Anna McClowry finished 156th overall at 25:30.8 in a pack crossing the finish line within a few seconds of one another.
Saint Mary’s now heads into the offseason, while Hope and Calvin continue their 2015 season 2015 NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday in Winneconne, Wisconsin.
