SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Minnesota State women's cross country took first place Saturday morning in the Holiday Inn Express Classic, a 6K race at Dordt University Prairie.
 
Junior Ashley Overgaauw (Lake Wilson, Minn.) set a season-best time of 21:02.98 for second place. She finished behind only Grace Steinmetz (Bellevue) with the top time of 20:40.39. The Mavericks had four student-athletes inside the top six. Senior Alexi MacDonald crossed third with a personal record time of 21:15.67 and senior Madison Matzek helped the team with her fifth place mark of 21:26.95 (season best).
 
Sophomore Mileena Sullivan (Hibbing, Minn.) also had a strong performance with a sixth place time of 21:31.18. Freshman Tara Hertling also made the scoresheet in 12^th place with a time of 21:45.56 (personal best), helping the Mavericks with a team score of 28.
 
Host Dordt (59) was second, followed by South Dakota State (76), Augustana (101) and Benedictine (190). Fellow NSIC teams Jamestown was sixth, along with Minnesota Crookston (eighth), Sioux Falls (12^th), Southwest Minnesota State (16^th) and Wayne State (17^th).

"I was really pleased with our performance in both races today," said head coach Jen Blue. "Everyone either ran a PR or had a season best. We did a good job closing our 1-5 speed, still a little more work to do, but we are getting there."
 
The event was the final tune-up for the Mavericks before the NSIC Championships on Friday, October 24 at Noon at Wayne Country Club (Wayne, Neb.). The Mavericks finished fifth last fall.
 
Others to finish for MSU on Saturday included Madi Wendlandt (45^th, 22:44.18), Sophie Baker (61^st, 23:02.65), Gianna Figueroa (73^rd, 23:16.77) and Olivia Minear (80^th, 23:20.04).

"I feel we are in a good place right now heading into the conference meet in two weeks. A couple things to fine-tune and get everybody healthy. If we can do that, I think we can make a run for the title."