EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With their highest regional finish since 2006, the Milwaukee women's cross country team placed 15th at the Great Lakes Regional Championship Friday at the Angel Mounds Cross Country Course in Evansville, Ind.
 
Milwaukee finished with 498 points in the 6K, good for 15th in the field of 31 teams. It's the highest finish for the Panthers at regionals since 2004, when the team placed 14th.
 
"I can't think of a better way for both programs to finish off the cross country season," head coach Andrew Basler said. "Six of our seven girls had lifetime bests and we ran extremely smart and kept coming up throughout the race and made a big push at the 4K mark to the 6K that allowed them to finish 15th and be the top Horizon League school."
 
Norte Dame tallied 56 points and the top two individual finishers to place first, with Wisconsin placing second with 69 points. Milwaukee was the top Horizon League team to finish at the championships, finishing ahead of league foes Oakland (16th) and Youngstown State (18th).
 
Mikayla Fox paced Milwaukee, placing 65th with a time of 21:17.0. The senior was the third Horizon League runner to cross the finish line.
 
"Fox, finishing out her career, did really well from a place standpoint," Basler commented. "She ran a personal best and put herself in a good position to lead our team today."
 
Megan Safranski (21:45.9) and Audrey Janik (21:55.6) were the next two finishers for MKE, placing 91st and 95th respectively. Emily Burns followed close behind, placing 101st with a time of 22:00.9.
 
Madison Franseen (22:44.4) wrapped up the scoring for the Panthers, finishing 146th.
 
Freshman Cailin Kinas (23.08.3) placed 172nd and Eileen Tocco (23:20.2) placed 178th and were the next two Milwaukee runners to cross the line.
 
"Very proud of the team," Basler said. "I thought they finished out the cross country season really well and now we turn our attention to the indoor track season."