The Aurora University Women's Cross Country team returned to the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course to compete in the Aurora Invitational on October 1.
The women placed fifth overall in a field of 15 teams, with a score of 163 points.

Deyanneira Colon Maldonado had yet another impressive race, finishing second overall. Maldonado came through the finish in 23:01.6, an improvement on her previous time at this course, which was 24:41.5. This new time is the fastest an AU woman has run the course, and is 30 seconds under the previous course record.

Coming in next were Abby Liesen and Madison Etheridge, both running their first 6k of the season. The two had over a minute improvement each from the last time they competed on this course. Finishing the scoring were freshman N'Dya Fields, who ran more than two minutes faster than she did on the same course at the Spartan Classic, and Shaley Gonzalez, who continued her series of impressive races for the Spartans. 

Seven Spartans ran times that are now in the top ten finishes Aurora has had at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course.

"Today was our first chance to face off against some of the top teams in the midwest region, and on the whole our group stepped up to the challenge," said Head Coach Alex Lowe. "We still have a lot of work to do between now and November, but I'm very optimistic about where this group can be at the end of the season."

The women will return on October 15 to compete at the Tori Neubauer Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin La-Crosse.