Trine Captures Midwest Intercollegiate Invitational

BOURBONNAIS, ILL.  --  Six of the team's top seven runners all finished in the top-15, including having the top individual champion, as the Trine University women's cross country team won the Midwest Intercollegiate hosted by Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University in Bourbonnais, Ill.

As a team, the Thunder finished with a team score of 30 points to take top honors, one point ahead of runner-up University of St. Francis-Joliet (Ill.) who finished with 31 points.  Host school Olivet Nazarene rounded out the top three scores at 77 points.

Individually, senior Evie Bultemeyer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) finished as the individual champion with the top overall time among 110 total runners at 18:21.60 in the 5K race.  Her time was just shy of 17 seconds better than her nearest opponent.

Fellow senior Megan Theismann (Ossian, Ind./Norwell) finished two spots back in third place in a time of 18:43.70 and senior Elizabeth Lohman (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) cross the finish line in a time of 19:24.90 to take seventh place overall.

A trio of Trine runners then went back-to-back-to-back to take ninth thru 11th place in junior Chloe Brittain (Wheeler, Mich./Breckenridge), freshman Carol Haldeman (Syracuse, Ind./Fairfield) and sophomore Amira Faulkner (Bellbrook, Ohio/Bellbrook).  Brittain clocked a time of 19:34.80 to grab ninth, Haldeman had a mark of 19:40.90 for 10th place and Faulkner finished less than a second behind Haldeman for 11th place and a mark of 19:41.80.

Sophomore Alli Smith (Temperance, Mich./Bedford Senior) completed the top-seven times for Trine at 20:39.40 and placed 22nd overall.

"The women's team had an outstanding team win against a really good St. Francis team," said Head Coach Zach Raber.  "Evie got her first win of the season with a dominating performance from start to finish. The rest of our top seven really poured it on in the last mile of the race to come from behind and 'eek' out the win.  It was very exciting to see their toughness today."

Trine returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 3 as part of a four-team competition along with Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents: Calvin (Mich.) College, Adrian (Mich.) College and Olivet (Mich.) College in Grand Rapids, Mich.  The event is set to begin at 11 a.m.