TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Milwaukee women's cross country team placed 16^th at the Great Lakes Regional Championships, on Friday morning, coming in as the top Horizon League School.
 
The Panthers finished the 6,000-meter race with 501 points, just three points off of last year's 15^th-place finish. MKE was well ahead of Oakland (20^th, 603 points) and Youngstown State (21^st, 614 points) as the top league finisher.
 
"Overall, I was pretty happy with how things went," head coach Andrew Basler commented. "The gap between our runners was pretty solid. I thought we had a chance at finishing 12-13 but I thought we ran pretty solid and I was not disappointed at all with our finish."
 
Meg Swietlik paced Milwaukee with a time of 21:51.5 to finish 76^th of 219 runners. Cailin Kinas also broke the top 100 as she placed 96^th in 22:10.2.
 
"For Meg, taking two years off running due to injury and to have the mental fortitude to put herself out there and be vulnerable is something that takes a lot of courage," associate head coach Jake Reilly said. "Hats off to her and her goals this year. I'm excited to see what we can do indoors."
 
Emily Burns (22:18.8) and Anelise Egge (22:21.9) were the next two Panthers' finishers, coming in at 109^th and 111^th, respectively.
 
Brittany Helm wrapped up the scoring for Milwaukee, crossing in 22:24.4 to place 113th.

"Generally speaking, we've been very close as a spread and that's how we were today. Our 2-5 were 15 seconds apart and that's the type of depth and consistency we need to get the place we want," Reilly commented. "That group is very young and so 16^th place is solid in the immediate and in the long term, they are only going to get better. We just need to keep pushing to get that top 10 spot in the regional."
  
Madison Hughes (22:32.9) and Rachel Helm (22:46.1) also competed for the Panthers on Friday.
 
Notre Dame had three finishers in the top 10 to win the event for the second straight season. Ohio State (111 points) and Michigan (116 points) placed second and third, respectively.
 
"I want to thank our seniors who ran their last cross country race wearing the Panther uniform," Basler said. "Meg and Emily have been a foundational part of the championship culture here with the women's distance squad. Their leadership has been amazing. I can only hope the younger athletes can pick up on that leadership and continue what we have going."