ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced the recipients of the 2026 women’s cross country awards on Tuesday. The top 16 runners at the UMAC Championship were named to the All-Conference Team with the top eight finishers recognized as First-team and the next eight recognized as Second-team. The remaining awards are nominated and voted on by the conference head coaches.
Emery Maki of Northwestern was the 2026 UMAC Individual Champion with a first-place finish at the UMAC Championship. The senior led the conference field with a time of 23:04.8.
Claire Fischer of Martin Luther was named the UMAC Rookie of the Year. The freshman finished seventh at the UMAC Championship with a time of 24:02.2 in her first collegiate championship race.
University of Northwestern head coach Patrick Fitzgerald was named the UMAC Coach of the Year. In his third season leading the Eagles, Coach Fitzgerald led his team to a second-place finish at the UMAC Championship and the top two individual finishers.
Crown won the Team Sportsmanship Award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches and awarded to the team that best represents sportsmanship throughout the entire season, including the championship event.
Each team also had one representative earn All-Sportsmanship honors.
Individual Champion: Emery Maki, Northwestern
Rookie of the Year: Claire Fischer, Martin Luther
Coach of the Year: Patrick Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Team Sportsmanship: Crown College
First-team All-Conference
| Emery Maki |
Northwestern |
Sr. |
Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing |
| Natalie Van De Riet |
Northwestern |
Sr. |
Albertville, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville |
| Grace Hahm |
Martin Luther |
So. |
Plymouth, Minn./West Lutheran |
| Brooklyn Hart |
Crown |
Jr. |
|
| Jemimah Habben |
Martin Luther |
Jr. |
Flagstaff, Ariz./Luther Prep |
| Ella Dufault |
Crown |
Sr. |
Waseca, Minn./Waseca |
| Claire Fischer |
Martin Luther |
Fr. |
Appleton, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran |
| Ruth Brueckner |
Crown |
Jr. |
Swanton, Vt./Homeschool |
Second-team All-Conference
| Lindsey Morrison |
Crown |
Jr. |
Apple Valley, Minn./Homeschool |
| Alicia Arredondo |
Northwestern |
Jr. |
Robbinsdale, Minn./Homeschool |
| Callie Dufault |
Crown |
So. |
Waseca, Minn./Waseca |
| Lilley Smith |
UW-Superior |
Sr. |
Ironwood, Mich./Ironwood |
| Chloe Zimmerman |
Northwestern |
So. |
Helena, Mont./Capital |
| Campbell Amundson |
Bethany Lutheran |
So. |
Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown |
| Cheyanne Scalese |
Northwestern |
So. |
Lancaster, Minn./Lancaster |
| Amelia Olson |
UW-Superior |
So. |
Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake |
All-Sportsmanship
| Bethany Lutheran |
Taryn Zellman |
| Crown |
Brooklyn Hart |
| Martin Luther |
Liberty VanDenHeuvel |
| Minnesota Morris |
Ava Miller |
| North Central |
Mary Fossell |
| Northwestern |
Emery Maki |
| UW-Superior |
Kwynn Krause |