GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University women's cross country team had a strong showing in the large NAIA Great Lakes Challenge today in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Indiana Wesleyan placed eighth of the 32 teams represented which also featured nine Crossroads League teams. IWU scored 253 points and was the third Crossroads League team in the final standings, but were just nine points behind Taylor (Ind.) University.

Six of the seven teams ahead of Indiana Wesleyan were all ranked in the last NAIA Top-25 Poll. No. 4-ranked Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University won the invitational with 41 points while No. 9-ranked Cornerstone (Mich.) University was a distant runner-up at 105. The only non-ranked team ahead of Indiana Wesleyan was St. Xavier by nine points, which they received points in the ranking.

Freshman Angel Gaesser led the Wildcats with a 25th place finish in the 355-runner field. She crossed the line in 19 minutes flat on the 5,000-meter course. Finishing just behind Gaesser was junior Alyssa Foss in 19:02 for a 29th place finish.

Junior Kayla Ewert was the third Wildcat to cross the line as she did so in 19:22 for 48th place. Junior Christina Sandberg was 65th place in 19:36 and senior Natasha Greenwood was 86th in a time of 19:54 to round out the top-five scorers.

Freshmen Katherine Arch and Julie Kamp completed the top-seven runners for Indiana Wesleyan. Arch placed 89th place in 19:56 while Kamp took 101st position in 20:06.

The NAIA Great Lakes Challenge was the final regular season event for Indiana Wesleyan. IWU returns to action in two weeks as they host the Crossroads League Championship on Saturday, November 3.