WAVERLY, Iowa: With winter descending on the Upper Midwest, the Yellowjacket women's cross country team headed south. Well, not that far south, but far enough to cross the border into Iowa. There, the Yellowjackets and 28 other schools would compete in the N.C.A.A. Central Regional, the final competition before the national meet in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

The course was familiar. In their third meet of the season, the Yellowjackets competed in there for the Dan Huston Invite. The competition was also familiar, as many of the same teams running Saturday also ran in September. The only glaring difference was the weather, as this time around it was considerably cooler.

Regardless, the Yellowjackets had a strong showing Saturday, placing 22nd with 631 points. Carleton College of Northfield, Minnesota was the team champion Saturday, besting the rest of the field with 64 points, half as many as the next closest team. Nebraska Wesleyan, Wartburg, St. Thomas, and St. Olaf rounded out the top five.

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets was senior Kelli Praska (Eagan, Minn./Eagan). In her final collegiate cross country race Praska finished the six-kilometer course with a time of 24:14.1, which put her in 88th place. It was a strong performance for Praska, who will go down as one of the best cross country runners in UW-Superior history.

Behind Praska was Kate Schwerman (Waukesha, Wis./West), who closed out her first season of collegiate cross country with a time of 25:03.6. She was just ahead of Haruka Hamanaka (Izumisano, Japan/Kishiwada), who came across the line with a time of 25:14.1. Ali Manthey (Zimmerman, Minn./Elk River) (25:29) and Michaela Ruhman (Brule, Wis./Northwestern) (25:39.1) rounded out the top five, putting the five runners that scored over the line within 1:15 of one another. Not far off the pace of the top five were Nicole Koski (Park Falls, Wis./Chequamegon) and Anna Kalin (Maple, Wis./Northwestern), who had times of 25:48.7 and 26:27.9, respectively.

Carina Collet of Wartburg was the individual champion, coming in with a time of 21:45.9. She was nine seconds ahead of the race's runner-up.