Results 

ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University cross country team has already had a historic 2016. Leading up to their home invite, the Wildcats finished ninth at the Roy Griak Invitational, the best finish in program history, and had multiple runners record personal records (PRs) in the first meet of the season.

On Saturday, St. Kate's record-breaking season continued, as the Wildcats won their home meet, the St. Kate's Invite, for the first time in program history. St. Kate's recorded not only the lowest team score of the meet, but its lowest team score of the season, with 42 points thanks to top-5 finishes from Rachel Hall (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Courtney Kirkeide (Greenbush, Minn. / Greenbush-Middle River), and Leighlin Ahlstrom (White Bear Lake, Minn. / White Bear Lake).

Hall could not have asked for a better return to collegiate racing, as she was the top finisher for the Wildcats in the race. Hall was second behind Augsburg's Taybri Irving with a time of 19:13.08. Kirdeide was only seconds behind in third place, scoring three points for the Wildcats with a time of 19:21.97.

Ahlstrom was the final member of St. Kate's to finish in the top-5 with a time of 19:23.17. Her fourth place finished helped the Wildcats finish 2-3-4 in the race and was the first time all season St. Kate's had three runners finish in consecutive order.  

Allison Monahan (Missoula, Mont. / Hellgate) was the fourth Wildcat to score points for the team. She finished in seventh place with a time of 19:28.96. Shannon Strickland (Rochester, Minn. / Lourdes) also scored for St. Kate's, finishing in 26^th with a time 20:22.78.

Jackie Brine-Doyle (Merrifield, Minn. / Pequot Lakes) and Bryana Waage (Valencia, Calif. / Hart) continued to be the Wildcats sixth and seventh place runners, with times of 20:40.96 and 20:51.78 respectively.

St. Kate's individual competitors also found extreme success on the home course. Michelle Perri (Plymouth, Minn. / Osseo), Catherine Degen (Rochester, Minn. / Lourdes), Olivia Damron (Thiensville, Wis. / Homestead) and Teagen Tretter (Kronenwetter, Wis. / D.C. Everest) all finished within milliseconds of each other in the 21 minute mark.

Four other Wildcats, Ahna Neil (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Sam Winter (Troutdale, Ore. / Reynolds), Jenna Thompson (Maple Grove, Minn. / Osseo), and Natalie Barclay (South Barrington, Minn. / Christian Liberty Academy), competed in the home race.

St. Kate's hopes to carry the winning momentum into its next race, the Seven Sisters Championship in Massachusettes. Then, Wildcats will compete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Cross Country Championship, which will take place on October 29 and Como Golf Course in St. Paul, Minnesota.