NORTHFIELD, Minn. – With two runners inside the top 10, Minnesota State women's cross country placed third as a team at the Running of the Cows event Saturday morning at Bill Huyck Championship Course in Northfield.
 
Carleton College hosted the 6K race as the Mavericks (77 pts.) finished behind only the Knights (56 pts.) and Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (77 pts). St. Olaf (90 pts.) and St. Scholastica (198 pts.) rounded out the top-5.
 
Carleton's Hannah Preisser won the race in 21:31.40, ahead of teammates Sophie McManus and Aliya Larsen. MSU's Madison Matzek was next in fourth position after crossing the line in 22:15.20. Emily Cunningham also placed ninth with a time of 22:38.20. Alexi MacDonald took 11^th (22:44.20) and Makayla Bishop came in 14^th (22:51.80).

"Similar to the last meet, we had some positive things and some things we still need to improve before conference," said head coach Jen Blue. "We got out well, but need to work on pushing in the middle more, keeping our pack tight. We also need to work on being more comfortable being uncomfortable and getting out of our comfort zone. We have trained through this part of the season, so once we start tapering in a couple weeks, we will be ready for the conference and battle for a top-3 position."
 
The Running of the Cows served as the final tune-up before the Mavericks appear at the NSIC Championships (8K) on October 26 at 11:15 a.m. in Minot, North Dakota. MSU also placed third in Northfield last season. The squad placed fourth at the NSIC Championships in 2023.
 
Other Mavericks to finish Saturday included Addison Peed (41^st, 23:42.90), Maria Selting (49^th, 23:56.20), Olivia Minear (56^th, 24:00.30), Megan Narveson (76^th, 23:34.10), Danielle Malone (96th, 25:03.10), Emmah Dmytrasz (103rd, 25:10.9), Sophie Baker (140th, 25:49.0), Ashley Hedquist (142nd, 25:51.1), Madelin Bruessel (150th, 25:58.1), Jacey Majerus (158th, 26:06.7), Isabelle Renlund (159th, 26:08.2), Scarlett Babcock (160th, 26:09.1), Shye Johnson (178th, 26:31.8), Aspen Rohde (197th, 25:55.4) and Emily Renlund (210th, 27:20.8).