ASHLAND, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary cross country team gave strong account of itself on Saturday, placing 10^th in a loaded 27-team field at the Blazing Tiger event co-hosted by Doane University and CSM.

There were six women's teams in the NAIA national top 25 in action, along with six more who received votes.

"I've been extremely impressed with this group all year,'' CSM Coach Derek Fey said. "We've been receiving votes for the top 25 all year, and we had an opportunity to make some waves at a huge meet with numerous quality teams. We ran a strong race and put ourselves in a good position heading to the conference meet.''

The Flames finished with 307 team points, which ranked third among Great Plains Athletic Conference entries, behind third-place Dordt University (100) and ninth-place Doane (294). The University of Saint Mary, based in Leavenworth, Kan., won the meet with 30 team points.

"Sitting as the third team in the GPAC and within 13 points of the second-place GPAC team today was a great way to head to the conference meet,'' Fey said.

Individually for CSM, Kara Muller led the way in 49^th place over the 6,000-meter course, in 23:21.91, just ahead of teammate Carly Henderson, who was 53^rd in 23:27.00. Also figuring in the team scoring were Brooke Wigdahl (63^rd in 23:43.66), Corinne Mead (76^th in 23:56.62) and Mira Fosmer (102^nd in 24:23.58).

Other finishers for the Flames were Becka Karnik (163^rd in 25:19.02), Autumn Simons (175^th in 25:30.91), Yenifer Juan Jesus (197^th in 25:54.62), Natalie Briggs (206^th in 26:02.26), Peyton Bell (219^th in 26:14.71), Kaitlyn Thalman (260^th in 27:25.32) and Kiley Craft (272^nd in 28:05.55).

Fey said Doane and CSM take a lot of pride in hosting the highly regarded event.

 "In only our second year of hosting, to have 35 (full and partial) teams show up from all over the country is pretty exciting,'' he said. "And then to finish 10^th in that field, it was a good day.''

CSM returns to action at the GPAC Championships on Nov. 9 back in Ashland, Neb.