ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It was quite a day for the teams from Northfield, Minn., at the 2013 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday at Como Park Golf Course. The Carleton College claimed their second conference title in three years, and St. Olaf individuals - including champion Noelle Olson - were the first two across the finish line.

The Knights overcame the strong performance by the Oles top two thanks to a strong pack that seemed to cross in succession after the first few individuals were in. Carleton had runners finish fifth, sixth, seventh, 15th and 18th, along with two more in the top 28, to score 51 points and beat their crosstown rivals by 18. St. Olaf rode Olson and runner-up Jorden Johnson to 69 points and a second-place team finish.

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After the Northfield duo, Saint Benedict scored a top-three finish with 115 points. Macalester was one of the day's brightest surprises, scoring 136 points to finish fourth, and defending champion Gustavus had a total of 155 to finish fifth. Hamline was just four points behind the Gusties in sixth place.

St. Thomas scored 181 points to come in seventh. Bethel was eighth with a score of 211. St. Catherine's 233 points gave the Wildcats a ninth-place finish and Concordia rounded out the top 10 with 252 points. Saint Mary's (272) and Augsburg (301) occupied the final two spots in the team standings.

Olson certainly didn't perform like a first-year runner in her MIAC Championship debut. The two-time MIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week added another honor to her outstanding first campaign with an impressive performance to claim the conference's individual championship. She completed the 6k course in 21:49.5 and won by more than 40 seconds.

St. Olaf's Noelle Olson claims the individual victory. (Photo by Matt Higgins, MIAC)

Olson's teammate Johnson was the runner up, finishing in 22:30.3 to give the Oles a 1-2 finish atop the individual leader board. St. Catherine's Ailee Larson finished in 22:38.2 to earn a top-three finish, with Macalester's Kimber Meyer (22:53.0) taking fourth place.

The first wave of Carleton runners was next across the line. The Knights' Collette Celichowski (22:53.0) was fifth, Winona Rachel (23:01.1) was sixth and Ruth Steinke completed the Carleton trio in seventh place with a time of 23:06.6. Saint Benedict's Manon Gammon-Deering took eighth with a time of 23:08.4, Macalester's Anna Schmitz (23:10.1) and St. Thomas' Megan Terukina (23:21.1) rounded out the top 10.

Saint Mary's Katie Stolz took 11th place with a time of 23:23.9, just ahead of the Gustavus duo of Caitlin Fermoyle (23:24.7) and Rebecca Hare (23:31.4), who were 12th and 13th, respectively. Hamline's Hannah Toder was 14th with a time of 23:32.3 and Carleton's Kazia Mermel (23:33.6) rounded out the top 15. Those top 15 individual finishers were automatically named to the All-Conference team.

The next 10 runners were named to the All-MIAC Honorable Mention squad. They were: St. Olaf's Michaela Banz, Concordia's Melissa Ulrich, Carleton's Shira Kaufman, Hamline's Maria Theisen, Bethel's Tera Hereid, St. Olaf's Allison Trezona, Hamline's Heather Hollinger, Carleton's Laura Nakasaka and Saint Benedict's Jenna O'Donnell and Kelsie Larson.

The MIAC has a home page dedicated to the 2013 MIAC Cross Country Championships, including information, links, results, recaps, photos and more. The MIAC would like to thank the host institution - Bethel University - for its efforts to host the meet, and Twin Cities Orthopedics for providing athletic training and medical services to the student-athletes.

| 2013 MIAC Cross Country Championships |