Cardinals Turn In Best Championship Finish In 13 Years

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Ball State cross country turned in its best MAC Championships finish in many years on Saturday. To be more precise, it was the team's best finish since Elka Machan was five years old.

Machan, BSU's top finisher as a freshman this fall, placed fourth to lead Ball State to fifth place at the league meet at Bowling Green. The last time BSU finished in the top 5 was 2007.

"Today was a really good day for us. It feels good for our best race to be our last one," distance coach Sarah Pease said. "We had a lot of PRs and people running as well as they have been running."

Machan, who has been near the top of the leadersboard in all three meets this fall, was in fourth at the mile mark and kept that pace throughout. She finished just one second out of third and was the top true freshman finisher in the race. Cayla Eckenroth placed 11th in the 95-runner race, keeping that Ball State score low and setting the tone for a successful meet.

"The plan was for those two to be up there in the top 10 and just go for it," Pease said. "They both had really nice races."

"It felt really good, I was very happy with it," Machan said. "I was nervous and didn't know where I'd be."

"It was exciting," Eckenroth said. "I was nervous but I knew i had fast teammates to help me through it. I was excited to do what I could today."

Their strong finishes earned them all-conference honors, as Machan earned a first team All-MAC recognition and Eckenroth second-team honors.

After having run at Bowling Green just two weeks ago, every Cardinal improved substantially on the course. Machan's fourth-place time was her college best and seven Cards set new PR 6K times. Eckenroth, Emma Cunningham, Karleigh Conner, Grace Dean, Kylee Mastin and Emmalyne Tarsa all had PRs on Saturday.

Northern Illinois had runners place second and third to narrowly edge Toledo for the title. Bowling Green and Miami, respectively were close behind and just ahead of the fifth-place Cards. It was the first championship in school history for Northern Illinois, which joined the MAC in 1997.

Putting a bow on a shortened cross country season, finishing the fall strong showed how the Cardinals trained hard and stayed ready to compete no matter the situation. Pease applauded her team and the culture that exists within cross country and track at BSU.

"It shows that the team was prepared the whole time. We kept talking about being ready and taking advantage of the opportunities we do have, and it feels good that we got it done."

Team Standings

Northern Illinois	84
Toledo	87
Bowling Green	90
Miami	95
Ball State	130
Ohio	142
Akron	180
Central Michigan	223
Eastern Michigan	227
Kent State	231
Western Michigan	273
Buffalo	357

Top 5 + Ball State

1. Kailee Perry, Bowling Green	20:41.0
2. Ashley Tutt, NIU	20:52.7
3. Mackenzie Callahan, NIU	21:04.3
4. Elka Machan, Ball State	21:05.4
5. Lindsay Scarton, Akron	21:09.0
11. Cayla Eckenroth, Ball State	21:24.4
31. Kylee Mastin, Ball State	22:16.6
36. Emmalyne Tarsa, Ball State	22:26.5
44. Hannah Cummings, Ball State	22:37.2
49. Karleigh Conner, Ball State	22:43.1
52. Grace Dean, Ball State	22:46.1
59. Juliana Stogsdill Ball State	22:52.0
66. Emma Cunningham, Ball State	22:58.5

2020 MAC Women's Cross Country All-MAC First Team
Kailee Perry, Bowling Green
Ashley Tutt, Northern Illinois
MacKenzie Callahan, Northern Illinois
Elka Machan, Ball State
Lindsey Scarton, Akron
Katerina Shuble, Bowling Green
Katie Vitou, Miami

2020 MAC Women's Cross Country All-MAC Second Team
Rebecca McNamee, Westeren Michigan
Maya Hannagan, Toledo
Carmen Riano, Miami
Cayla Eckenroth, Ball State
Emily Paupore, Central Michigan
Hailey Bowes, Ohio
Semra Karaslan, Toledo

2020 MAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year
Adrian Myers, Northern Illinois

2020 MAC Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year
Kailee Perry, Bowling Green