Women’s Cross Country looks to defend NACC title

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW women's cross country team will compete at the 2018 NACC Cross Country Championships on Saturday on Saturday morning.

"I am excited to see what our teams will do," said head coach Russ De Lap. "We train all year with the vision of peaking at the end of the year. The team has trained really hard all year and now is the time to put it all together. This team has done everything I have asked of them and they are in great shape right now. We just have to have everyone race great all on the same day. If that happens we will do well."

The Falcons come in as the reigning NACC champions after a first-place finish in 2017. Concordia Wisconsin finished the race with 40 points, 22 points ahead of Aurora.

Aurora will host the 2018 championships at the Oakhurst Forest Preserve.

The Falcons have won the NACC title five different times in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2017. Aurora has won six titles and Edgewood claimed the title in 2015.

Concordia Wisconsin has had one NACC individual champion in 2009 when Samantha Gries won at 23:55.

The Blue and White have two seniors on the team in Leslie Christiansen (Morton Grove, Ill.) and Molly Wirtz (Stevens Point, Wis.).

"Conference is so exciting because it is the one race where we put everything we have trained for on the line," said Christiansen. "It's now or never."

Freshman Mackenzie Dorth (West Bend, Wis.) has posted the fastest time of the year for the Falcons at 24:27.7 that she set at Benedictine.

The race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. at Aurora.