Clara Mayfield boasts the MIAC's fastest 6K time heading into the 2022 MIAC Championships.
Clara Mayfield boasts the MIAC's fastest 6K time heading into the 2022 MIAC Championships.

Women's Cross Country

2022 MIAC Women's Cross Country Championship Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The 2022 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) women's cross country season reaches its apex this Saturday when runners from across the conference converge at Highland Park in St. Paul for the 2022 MIAC Cross Country Championships. It is the first time the conference meet has gone off campus since a nearly two-decade stint at Como Park from 1998-2016. The 12-team women's six-kilometer race is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The 11-team men's 8K race will follow at noon.
CHAMPIONSHIP 101
St. Olaf is the defending MIAC team champion, having earned the program's tenth conference title in 2021. Since 1981, five different schools have won MIAC women's cross country championships. St. Thomas holds the MIAC record with 17 total team titles, including the first nine from 1981-89. Carleton ranks second all-time with 11 team championships, followed by St. Olaf with 10. St. Thomas has also had the most individual champions with 10, while Carleton and St. Olaf have the next most with six, and Bethel and Macalester have each had five. Saint Benedict's Fiona Smith (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) is the defending individual champion and will be aiming to become the sixth woman in conference history to win back-to-back conference titles - a feat that has not been achieved since Bethel's Marie Borner won three in a row from 2007-09.
HANDING OUT THE HARDWARE
Once the results of the 2022 MIAC Cross Country Championship are tabulated and deemed final, a short awards ceremony for both men's and women's races will follow around 1:00 p.m. The top 15 runners in each race will be honored with All-Conference distinction, while runners finishing in places 16-to-25 will be named Honorable Mention. The championship team will also be honored with the presentation of the MIAC Championship plaque.

Individual awards for Athlete, Rookie, and Coach of the Year will be announced on Thursday, November 3.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Fans who are not traveling to St. Paul will have access to unofficial results soon after the action concludes courtesy of Wayzata Results.

The MIAC has a championship home page for the event that will serve as the online home of the meet. The championship page will include results and photos as they become available.

| Championship Home Page | Top Times | Course Map | Parking | Unofficial Meet Results |
IN THE POLLS
Three MIAC squads are nationally ranked in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 35 Poll, released on October 19. Two of those teams cracked the top ten, with St. Olaf at No. 9 and Carleton at No. 10, while Saint Benedict made its season debut in the national rankings at No. 30.

The Oles and Knights are also Nos. 2 and 3 in the North Region in the latest USTFCCCA Regional Rankings, released on October 18. The Bennies are ranked No. 5 in the region, with Bethel at No. 8.
ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
Twelve of the top 15 runners from a season ago will be in competition this weekend, including Saint Benedict junior Fiona Smith (1st), Carleton senior Clara Mayfield (2nd), Carleton junior Helen Cross (4th), St. Scholastica junior Maj-Lis Helmer (5th), St. Olaf junior Julia Everest (6th), St. Olaf sophomore Sofia Carlson (7th), St. Olaf junior Bella Call (8th), Carleton sophomore Libby Rowland (9th), Carleton sophomore Phoebe Ward (11th), St. Olaf senior Sam Posey (13th), Hamline senior Alexandra Maddux (14th), and Gustavus junior Evelyn Villalobos (15th).
AROUND THE MIAC
Augsburg junior Gracie Johnson (Red Wing, Minn.) set a new personal record for the fourth time in as many races with a 6K time of 23:52.7, good for 48th place in the 364-runner field at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15.

Bethel first-year Mikayla Erlenborn (Camarillo, Calif. | Oaks Christian) led the Royals with an eighth-place finish at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15. Her time of 22:26 is the eighth-fastest 6K in program history.

Carleton senior Clara Mayfield (Manhattan, Kan.) won the Inter-Regional Border Battle on 10/15 with a 6K time of 20:48.4, good for the best time in the MIAC this season and a 33-second margin of victory at a meet that featured 308 racers. This was Mayfield's third consecutive individual victory, which helped nationally-ranked Carleton take second place at the 35-team competition.

Concordia Emily Rugloski (Baxter, Minn. | Brainerd) led the way for the Cobbers with a mark of 23:45.2 at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15, which pushed her into 37th place in a race that featured 364 runners. Her finishing time was almost a full minute faster than her mark at the same meet last year. Rugloski has led Concordia in three of five meets this year.

Gustavus junior Evelyn Villalobos (Crystal, Minn. | Robbinsdale-Cooper) led the Gusties at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15, crossing the line in 22:27.27. Her ninth-place finish was good for the 17th-fastest 6K time in the MIAC this season.

Hamline senior Alexandra Maddux (Moorhead, Minn.) led the Pipers at their home invite on 9/9 with an 11th-place time of 23:06.2 at the MIAC Preview. Maddux has been Hamline's top finisher at all four meets this fall.

Macalester junior Maria Blaesing (Munster, Ind.) was the first Scot to cross the finish line at the MIAC Preview on 9/9, clocking in 12th overall with a time of 23:10.42. Blaesing has been Macalester's top finisher in three of the team's four meets this season.

Saint Benedict junior Fiona Smith (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) placed second overall in a field of 243 runners at the DIII National Preview meet in Lansing, Mich. on 10/1. Smith finished the race in 20:54.9, breaking her own program record at the 6K distance and recording the second-fastest time in the MIAC this season.

St. Catherine junior Brenna Nelson (Zumbro Falls, Minn. | Lake City Lincoln) was the Wildcats' top finisher at the St. Boni Invite on 10/14, clocking in with a season-best time of 26:26.97. Nelson's time was good for fifth-place overall.

Saint Mary's junior Caroline Gearin (Osceola, Wis.) was the Cardinals' top finisher for the third straight race, breaking the tape with a 6K time of 25:51.7 - one-tenth of a second off her collegiate best time - at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15.

St. Olaf sophomore Alison Bode (Minneapolis, Minn. | Southwest) was the Oles' top finisher at the Inter-Regional Border Battle on 10/15, crossing the line in 18th place in 22:19.1 to record a collegiate-best 6K time by more than 19 seconds. That time is also ninth-fastest in the MIAC this season.

St. Scholastica junior Maj-Lis Helmer (Duluth, Minn. | East) placed 24th overall in a field of 364 competitors at the Tori Neubauer Invitational on 10/15 with a tim of 23:11.4. Helmer won the season-opening Twin Cities Twilight on 9/2 and has been the Saints' top finisher at each of their last two meets.