The Rhodes cross country teams used fall break to travel north and race in the highly competitive Tori Neubauer Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. Facing 6 nationally ranked teams, the Rhodes women finished 9th out of 22 competing schools. Amy Paine, Marie Brandewiede, and Elizabeth Wester led the way for the Lynx, as they each finished among the meet's top 14 runners.
Division III number 4 La Crosse narrowly defeated 5th ranked Calvin College and 6th ranked Wartburg College in a close three-team battle for the meet title. The University of Minnesota B-team finished 4th, followed by Carleton College (ranked 17th) in 5th, Wisconsin at Stevens Point (ranked 12th) in 6th, Luther College (ranked 25th) in 7th, and Wisconsin at Eau Claire in 8th. Rhodes' score of 259 left them just 8 points behind Eau Claire, 17 points behind Luther, and 21 points behind Stevens Point. Wartburg sophomore Missy Buttry dominated the 318-runner field, winning by 58 seconds with a time of 17:28 over the 5,000 meter course.
Amy Paine raced to a time of 18:48 as the top Rhodes finisher in 5th place. Paine was followed closely by teammates Marie Brandewiede and Elizabeth Wester, who finished in 19:01 for 10th and 19:10 for 14th, respectively. Each of the Lynx lead trio improved her previous best time at La Crosse significantly: 40 seconds for Paine, 52 seconds for Brandewiede, and a colossal 88 seconds for Wester. Rhodes' top 3 runners were edged out by the lead group from La Crosse, but otherwise easily bested all other teams at the meet. Freshmen Haley McConaghy and May King finished Rhodes' scoring with times of 20:42 and 20:43, good for 114th and 116th, respectively. King's performance was a seasonal best. Lauren Glas and Abbey Walker rounded out the Lynx top seven with 130th and 139th place finishes. Walker's time of 21:42 was a full 127 seconds better than her previous best at La Crosse.
Results
