MADISON, Wis. – Junior Meg Swietlik capped her breakout season with a school record and All-Region honors after an outstanding 24th-place finish to lead the Milwaukee women's cross country team at the 2019 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 15, at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis. 
 
Milwaukee finished 18th out of 31 teams with 516 points, most notably topping league foe Youngstown State who finished ahead of the Panthers at the league championships only a few weeks ago.
 
"The women ran extremely well and definitely took a good step forward," Head Coach Andrew Basler said, "they also moved up a couple of spots from last year's regionals and were able to beat Youngstown State who finished ahead of us at conference."
 
Swietlik made history after claiming the school record and the first All-Region honor since 2010. This marks only the fourth All-Region honor in school history. Her 24th-place finish also now sits as the third-best regional finish of any Panther.
 
The junior dropped over 30 seconds for an impressive time of 20:57.6 and is now the only Panther to break the 21-minute mark in the 6,000m at a regional race.
 
"Meg ran an unbelievable race," Basler added, "her time is something we felt as a coaching staff she probably would have legitimately ran at conference had it been an accurate championship course." 
 
Up next came the pair of junior Megan Safranski and freshman Emily Burns, clocking in with personal best times of 22:22.0 and 22:25.7 respectively. Safranski finished 104th while Burns claimed 111th.
 
Rounding out scoring on the day was sophomore Riley Hansen and freshman Madison Hughes. Hansen crossed the line in 128th-place with a personal best time of 22:48.2. Hughes finished 149th in 23:12.0.
 
"Today was a great way to finish out the season and we are looking forward to some rest before we gear up for the indoor season."
 
MILWAUKEE FINISHERS
24. Meg Swietlik – 20:57.6
104. Megan Safranski – 22:22.0
111. Emily Burns – 22:25.7
128. Riley Hansen – 22:48.2
149. Madison Hughes – 23:12.0
(169) Ciara Kaderly-Blumer – 23:50.6
(174) Erika Kisting – 23:57.5