WINTHROP, Minn. – The University of Wisconsin-Superior won the 2024 UMAC Women’s Cross Country Championship at the Winthrop Golf Course on Saturday. The championship title is the second in program history for the Yellowjackets and their second in a row. UW-Superior won the championship with a team score of 47 points and an average time of 24:45.
Ella Dufault won the 2024 UMAC Individual Championship, leading the conference field with a time of 22:48.5; the fastest time for a UMAC individual champion since St. Scholastica’s Casey Hovland won the title in 2017 with a time of 21:52.0. In her championship-winning run, the Crown College Polar’s sophomore broke her previous career personal best time of 23:15.6 by 27.1 seconds
The Yellowjackets had three runners finish in the top five overall. Simone Stephens led UW-Superior at the championship, placing third overall with a time of 23:29.0. Cora Hudella, last year’s individual champion, followed in fourth at 23:59.3. Tea Boerner placed fifth overall with a time of 24:06.1. Lily Smith placed 12
th overall for UW-Superior at 25:16.0. Scarlett Vandersche had the fifth finish for the Yellowjackets, placing 23
rd overall with a 26:56.7 to clinch the championship victory.
Crown finished as the runner-up at the championship with 56 points, averaging a time of 24:59. Following individual champion Default, Ruth Brueckner had the second-best time for Crown at 24:53.7 to place 10
th overall.
The Martin Luther College Knights took third place as a team, finishing with 72 points and an average time of 25:29. MLC was led by Katelyn Mensching, who placed sixth overall with a time of 24:20.7. Jemimah Happen had a top-ten finish for the Knights as well, running a 24:37.6 to place eighth overall.
Final Team Results
| Name |
Score |
Top Finisher |
| 1. UW-Superior |
47 |
Simone Stephens (23:29.0) - 3rd |
| 2. Crown |
56 |
Ella Dufault (22:48.5) - 1st |
| 3. Martin Luther |
72 |
Katelyn Mensching (2:20.7) - 6th |
| 4. Northwestern |
78 |
Caroline Ringsmuth (24:24.6) - 7th |
| 5. Bethany Lutheran |
120 |
Brooklyn Hart (23:08.4) - 2nd |
| 6. Minnesota Morris |
138 |
Sylvia Pesch (26:21.7) - 19th |
| 7. Northland |
220 |
Lillian Beske (34:20.2) - 57th |
| 8. North Central |
- |
Analise Hernandez (30:39.8) - 50th |
Top-Ten Finishers
| Name |
Team |
Time |
| 1. Ella Dufault |
Crown |
22:48.5 |
| 2. Brooklyn Hart |
Bethany Lutheran |
23:08.4 |
| 3. Simone Stephens |
UW-Superior |
23:29.0 |
| 4. Cora Hudella |
UW-Superior |
23:59.3 |
| 5. Tea Boerner |
UW-Superior |
24:06.1 |
| 6. Katelyn Mensching |
Martin Luther |
24:20.7 |
| 7. Caroline Ringsmuth |
Northwestern |
24:24.6 |
| 8. Jemimah Habben |
Martin Luther |
24:37.6 |
| 9. Isabelle Yuhanna |
Northwestern |
24:50.3 |
| 10. Ruth Brueckner |
Crown |
24:53.7 |