Battling a muddy, wet and windy course, the women’s cross country team was not able to keep up with stiff competition at last Saturday’s MIAC championship meet, dashing hopes of winning what would have been the first team title in the program’s history.

Despite earning fewer points than last year and moving up a spot over last year’s results, the team was still disappointed with its fifth place finish.

“We didn’t pack it up as well as we could have or needed to,” co-captain Anna Gordon ’06 said.

Many observers expected a hard-fought competition for the top spot between Carleton, St. Olaf, Macalester, St. Thomas, and last year’s champion Gustavus Adolphus. The Scots ended up at the back of that group.

Carleton won the title handily, with all five of its top runners placing in the top 25 overall. Gustavus took second, St. Thomas placed third and St. Benedict’s finished in fourth place.

Leah Wurm of St. Benedict’s took home the top honor, finishing the five-kilometer course in 18:53.

Last year, it was Mac’s own Koby Hagen ’06 who took off down the stretch to win the race. She was again Macalester’s top runner, coming in 14th place with a time of 20:02. Francie Streich ’06 was only a half-second behind Hagen to take 15th. Both Hagen and Streich earned All-MIAC honors for their efforts.

Anna Shamey ’07 and Anna Gordon ’06 took Mac’s third and fourth spots. Elizabeth Nelson ’08 stepped into the number five spot. The three runners finished within 12 seconds of one another, taking 32nd, 34th, and 37th overall, respectively.

The rough outing cost the team its national ranking as Macalester fell off the 25-team list from its previous ranking at No. 22.

However, the team is determined to come back stronger for the regional race next weekend in Waverly, Iowa. The top four teams from that meet move on to the national championships the next weekend in Eau Claire, Wis.

“I think our ability to reflect on the race as a team, and not just dismiss it, to use it as fuel for regionals or next season, will help us,” Allie Woerpel ’07 said. “Just because we didn’t achieve our goals, doesn’t mean it wasn’t real or possible, it just didn’t come together that day.”