OLIVET, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's cross country team traveled to Olivet, Michigan to compete in the MIAA Championships.
 
With a team score of 56 the Knights finished in third place, just one point behind second place Hope while Trine took the top spot.
 
Senior Sophie Bull (Denver, Colo./Denver Christian) led the way for the Knights when she finished in fourth place with a time of 21:49.6. Freshman duo Brynn Ellenbecker (Itasca, Ill./Lake Park) and Emma Wierenga (Grafton, Mass./Whitinsville Christian) both cracked the top ten when Ellenbecker finished in ninth (22:27.6) and Wierenga was close behind in tenth (22:27.7).
 
Senior Catie Kramer (Pickering, Ontario/Durbarton) finished in fourteenth with a time of 22:31.3 while sophomore Alexis Ball (Grand Rapids, Mich. Traverse City Central) rounded out the scoring for the Knights when she finished in nineteenth place with a time of 22:50.5.
 
Junior Hailey Erickson (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) and freshman Ayla Holben (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) also competed in the field for the Knights and finished at 22:52.4 and 23:05.6, respectively.
 
After the race, Bull received First Team All-MIAA honors while Ellenbecker, Wierenga, and Kramer were named to the All-MIAA Second Team.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "It was a battle out there today," said head coach Nicole Kramer. "While the end results didn't fall as we wanted up front, the effort, passion and focus was consistent through the end, and led to many personal bests. Unsurprisingly, Trine took the race out aggressively up front. We did a nice job staying connected and sticking with who we needed to early on. As the race unfolded it became clear that Trine would be out of range for us. These women continued to commit to taking risks in the middle to help each other. Some of those risks may have hurt us a bit down the stretch, and Hope was able to sneak ahead. We will be motivated to have things click better for us at Regionals in two weeks. Freshmen Brynn Ellenbecker and Emma Wierenga both had great days to finish 9^th and 10^th overall, while senior Catie Kramer also earned her first All-MIAA honor with an impressive race. I'm proud of all our seniors who have set the standards of excellence we have on our team!"
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Saturday, November 25th when they travel to Louisville, Ky. to compete in the NCAA Regionals at 10:30 AM.