VANCOUVER, Wash. -- It was not quite the finish that No. 15-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women's cross country had hoped for at the NAIA National Championship at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington.

Head coach John Foss had hoped for a possible top-10 finish coming off a fine season for the Wildcats. But it was not meant to be as Indiana Wesleyan placed 20th overall in the 32-team field.

"We had a great year," lamented Foss. "We lost seven seniors from last year's team when we took ninth at last year's national meet. But overall, our girls did their best."

The Wildcats struggled on the wet, muddy course and piled up 493 points. IWU was just five points behind 18th place Morningside (Iowa) College with 488 points. Cal State-San Marcos won the national championship with 82 points.

"The course was pretty rough today," said Foss. "It had rained a lot and the course was pretty muddy."

Rebekah Bentle, Indiana Wesleyan's top-runner throughout the season, struggled to a sixth place finish on the team and failed to score. She was 133rd with a time of 20:03.

The entire team struggled with times much slower than during the season. Allissa Peterson was the first Wildcat to finish the 5,000-meter course in a time of 19:19. Peterson was 61st out of 218 runners which competed in the team championship.

Taylor Hite was next for Indiana Wesleyan in 81st place with a time of 19:35. She was trailed by Emily Dean in 105th place in 19:50 and Amanda Johnson captured 120th place in 19:53. Alyssa Foss was the final scorer for Indiana Wesleyan. Foss was 126th in 19:56.

Also running for Indiana Wesleyan was Angi Wolgemuth. She finished the race in 20:32 for a 166th place finish.

Indiana Wesleyan finishes the 2011 season with three first place wins, including the program's 12th Mid-Central College Conference championship.