After a spectacular 2013 season so far, Ailee Larson (Lutsen, Minn) capped it off with a third-place individual performance at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships Saturday to lead the St. Catherine University cross country to a ninth-place team finish. For her efforts, Larson has been named the Wildcat Athlete of the Week.Â
Crossing the line in a time of 22:38.2, Larson's time and placing is the best ever by a St. Catherine runner at the MIAC meet since the meet moved to a 6k distance. Despite being just off her career-best time set earlier this year on a day where all times were slower than normal for the Como Park Golf Course venue, Larson bested Greta Sieve's previous school-best performance at the MIAC. All-American Sieve finished fourth in 2009 with a time of 22:54.2.Â
Larson's historic performance was just eight seconds behind Jorden Johnson of St. Olaf College who finished second. She was neck-and-neck with Kimber Meyer of Macalester College throughout the race but pulled away in the final stretch for her sixth top-10 finish of the 2013 season.Â
Larson and the Wildcats will race at the NCAA regional meet on Saturday, Nov. 16, at St. Olaf College with the women's race slated for 11 a.m.Â
