NEWVILLE, Pennsylvania – For the first time since 2012, a member of the Ripon cross country program competed in the NCAA Championships as Mikayla Flyte represented the Red Hawks on the national stage on Saturday morning at Big Spring High School.
 
Flyte followed in the footsteps of Michelle Matter (2012), Brittney Dick (2006) and Lori Stich (1989, 90) as Red Hawk women to advance to nationals.
 
The senior from Coloma, Wisconsin finished with a time of 22:57.6 for a 172nd-place finish. She was the only female in the Midwest Conference to race on Saturday, and just one of two MWC athletes (Isaac vanWestrienen from Cornell was the other).
 
The top seven individuals in each region, from non-qualifying teams, advanced to the NCAA Championships. After a 15th-place finish last Saturday at the NCAA North Regional, Flyte was safely awarded a bid to race at the sport's culminating event.
 
Fiona Smith, competing also as an individual, became the first woman to run a sub-20 minute 6K at the NCAA Championships, winning her first national championship. She also won the NCAA North Regional last week where Ripon competed. As a team, Carleton – also a North Region performer – won the national championship by three points over New York University.

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