UPLAND, Ind. -- No. 12 Indiana Wesleyan University women’s cross country placed runner-up on Saturday at the Crossroads League Championship hosted by Taylor (Ind.) in Upland, Indiana.

No. 15 Taylor (Ind.) won the league championship with 29 points while Indiana Wesleyan was seven points back at 36 points. Huntington (Ind.) was a distant third place with 77 points.

“The women had a great day today,” said IWU head coach John Foss. “We lost by seven points to a very good Taylor team.”

Indiana Wesleyan was paced by four All-Crossroads League performances for placing in the top-15 of the meet. Taylor Hite (SR/Ligonier, Ind.) was the individual runner-up with a time of 18 minutes 49 seconds on the 5,000-meter course. Sarah McBeath (SO/LeHigh Acres, Fla.) was third with an 18:50, Isabel Wharton (JR/Laurel, Del.) was seventh at 18:56, and Brooke Horswell (JR/Charleston, W.Va.) took ninth place in 19:06.

The final scorer for the Wildcats was Katherine Arch (JR/Iowa City, Iowa) in 16th place at 19:23. Rounding out the top seven for the Wildcats were Kailynne Tangeman (SR/Marysville, Ohio) in 19th place in a time of 19:32 and Megan Sanchez (SO/Hudsonville, Mich.) in 24th position in 19:50.

“We had a 34 second spread between 1-5 which is very good,” said Foss. “Taylor Hite, Sarah McBeath, and Izzy Wharton all went under 19 minutes. It is the first time Izzy has been under 19 minutes. There was seven seconds between our top three which is very impressive.”

“We ran really well on a challenging course,” continued Foss. “Our times are off a little bit but we overcame it and had decent times.”

Indiana Wesleyan will have to wait and see if they receive an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship in two weeks. IWU will race again next week at the NCCAA National Championship in Cedarville, Ohio. Indiana Wesleyan races at 10 a.m.