Belles season ends at Great Lakes regional
Jose Sanchez Cordova | Monday, November 14, 2022
The Saint Mary’s cross country team finished 19th of 34 teams at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Fellow MIAA school No. 19 Hope College, who won the conference title the week prior, hosted a cold and snowy affair as temperatures dropped into the 30s on Saturday.
On the individual front, Saint Mary’s placed five of its seven runners in the top 150 of 247 total participants. The team’s best individual effort came from junior Amanda Tracy who ran a 23:26.5 to set a personal record. The time was a 14-second improvement on her previous PR. She was the only Belle to place in the top 100 finishers.
Seniors Angela Bannan and Anna DeMars closed their cross-country careers on a high note. Both set personal records in their final collegiate meet. Sophomore Susanna Bernovich and freshman Carly Davis also set personal bests. Overall, five Belles had career days in the cold conditions.
The 19th-placed team finish was the best performance at a regional championship by the Belles since a 17th-place during the 2019 edition. The result came on the back of a 6th-place finish at the MIAA Championships held on Oct. 29.
Outside of Saint Mary’s, No. 25 John Carroll took home the regional team title. No. 23 Calvin and hosting Hope rounded out the top three. Hope’s Anastasia Tucker also took home the individual title. Her 20:46.0 was the only sub-21 mark for the 6k race.
With the NCAA announcing championship qualifiers on Sunday, it’s official that the Belles will be shut out of the national championships. As such, their season came to an end on Saturday. A pair of sixth-place meet finishes proved the high watermark for the 2022 season.
Contact José Sánchez Córdova at [email protected]
