DeKALB, Ill. (September 6, 2024) – Whitney Currie finished fourth overall and led a trio of Wildcats in the top 10 as Northwestern opened its 2024 season tonight at the Huskie Opener in DeKalb, Illinois.

In the 5K race on the North 40 Championships Cross Country Course, the ‘Cats earned a team score of 43, placing second in the team standings, only behind DePaul (29 points). Western Illinois (65 points) was third.

Currie was the first Wildcat to cross the finish line tonight, running 18:34.98 to place fourth overall. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native’s time was just five seconds slower than her personal best of 18:29.2 in the 5K, which she set on Oct. 1, 2021, at the Joe Piane Invitational.

She was competing in only her second collegiate cross-country 5K race. Serena Frolli set a new personal best, finishing seventh with a time of 18:54.17, an improvement of 11 seconds over her previous best. Mia Mraz She also set a new personal best by improving her final 5k run by 23 seconds, finishing in ninth place with a time of 19:07.30.

Audrey Bannister (12^th; 19:10.44) and Mallory Grubb (16^th; 19:47.63) achieved new personal bests and completed the Wildcats’ top five, while Lydia Sommer came through in 20:36.88 (24^th) in her 5K college debut.

A select group of Wildcats delivered a controlled performance at the Badger Classic in Madison, Wisconsin, on the Zimmer Championship Course. Northwestern will see this course again on Friday, Sept. 27, at the Nuttycombe Invitational. The course will also host the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 23.

“We drove to Wisconsin today to complete the Zimmer (Championship) Course before the Nuttycombe Invitational,” said Northwestern’s cross country head coach Jill Miller commented. “It was great to see this group put in such a controlled effort to learn the course in the hopes of being better prepared to compete against many of the top teams in the country in three weeks.”


At her first appearance with the ‘Cats, Holly Smith led Northwestern’s charge, finishing seventh overall in the women’s 6K race with a time of 21:16.5. Chloe Wellingsanother Wildcat debutant, finished in 21:40.6 and took 13th place.^thThe pairing of Maddy Whitman (21:44.9) and Ava Criniti (21:44.9) finished 14th.^th and 15^threspectively. Anna Lena rounded out the Wildcat top five in 17^th (21:49.8), with Skye Ellis (19^th; 21:52.7) and Katharina Hessler (20^th; 21:57.1) also reached top 20 positions.


Northwestern is back in action on Friday, Sept. 13 when it travels south to Champaign, Illinois for the Big Ten Conference Preview.