Two county runners compete in NCAA meets

• Ellsworth's Morgan Place

Morgan Place reached All American status again with another top 10 finish at the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Meet.

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One runner an All-American, another a national champion.

Ellsworth’s Morgan Place tallied another All-American performance at the NCAA Division National Cross Country Championship Meet Saturday.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Prescott’s Maria Peloquin became part of a national championship program as her UW-Eau Claire Blugold squad won the national title at the NCAA Division III Meet.

The Division II meet was held in Evansville, Ind. Place did one spot better than her showing her freshman season as she ran in sixth place on the 6,000-meter course in a time of 20:53. She bettered her 2008 time by a full minute.

Place’s finish is the best for any University of Minnesota-Duluth female runner individually and she also helped the Bulldogs place seventh as a team.

Adams State University of Colorado won the national title for the seventh consecutive time. The individual winner, Sarah Pixler of Seattle Pacific University, won her third straight national meet in a time of 20:22.

Over at the Division III meet held in Highland Hills, Ohio and hosted by Baldwin-Wallace University, UW-Eau Claire, ranked No. 3 in the country, took first place with a total meet score of 171, besting St. Lawrence University of New York which scored 180 points. St. Lawrence’s Wendy Pavlus won the individual title with a run of 21:28.

The title is the first ever for the UWEC women's cross country program.

Peloquin is a junior on the Blugolds’ roster. She has run in seven meets this season. Her best 6,000-meter showing came at the Blugold Open where she finished 21st in a time of 23:21.

Tags: cross country, sports