Wayne State College finished 22^nd out of 31 teams with 631 points Saturday morning at the NCAA Division II Central Region Women's Cross Country Championships held at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri.  It's the best finish in over a decade for the Wildcats at the region event when WSC was 21^st in 2011 at Denver.
            Winona State and Augustana from the NSIC were the top two team finishers at 52 and 95 points respectively with Pittsburg State from the MIAA also earning an automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA National Championships taking third at 128 points.  UMary (142) and Missouri Southern (205) rounded out the top five teams.
            Yankton, S.D. senior Brooke Solomon was the top Wildcat finisher, placing 105^th out of 219 runners with a time of 23:08.7 on the 6,000-meter course.  Kylie Pachta was next in 115^th place at 23:16.8 and Lindsey Stuckey 123^rd overall at 23:20.5.
            Other Wildcat finishers included freshman Callie Kirchner (141^st – 23:54.1), senior Alison Stineman (155^th - 24:12.5), senior Kelsey Larsen (161^st – 24:22.4) and sophomore Madeline Kunz (175^th – 25:06.6).
 
Wayne State women's finishers at NCAA Central Region Championships
Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course – Joplin, Missouri (6,000-meters)
105.      Brooke Solomon           23:08.7
115.      Kylie Pachta                  23:16.8
123.      Lindsey Stuckey            23:20.5
141.      Callie Kirchner               23:54.1
155.      Alison Stineman            24:12.5
161.      Kelsey Larsen               24:22.4
175.      Madeline Kunz              25:06.6