NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The University of St. Francis women's cross country team raced in its second meet of the 2026 season on Friday afternoon at the University of Notre Dame (Ind.) National Catholic Invite and came away with a 4th-place effort in the 15-team field.  All 13 Saints competing on the day posted a personal record in the event.

USF, which netted a team score of 113 points, posted nine runners in the top half of all competitors on the 5K layout at Burke Golf Course.  The field consisted of 190 runners from seven NCAA I, two NCAA II and three NCAA III universities, with St. Francis (Ill.), Madonna University (Mich.) and Mount Mercy University (Iowa) being the lone representatives competing from NAIA institutions.  The Notre Dame running club earned the team title with its score of 15.

The Saints, who are currently ranked No. 12 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, were paced by Evita Martinez's 13th-place time of 18:07.9.  Martinez was the top NAIA finisher in the event.

Along with Martinez, Carmen Solis, Savannah Richmond, Dyannara Franco and Nicole Vollrath all placed among USF's top five spots on the finisher's list.  Solis' time of 18:27.9 claimed 23rd place, while Richmond (29th place) and Franco (30th place) finished back-to-back with a times of 18:36.3 and 18:37.2, respectively.  Vollrath was the 43rd competitor to cross the finish line at 19:05.6.

The meet's individual champion was Chloe Huyler of Notre Dame, who ran a 16:45.4 time to edge out four of her teammates which all finished in succession with time differentials of one-tenth of a second at 16:45.5, 16:45.6, 16:45.7 and 16:45.8.

Next Up
The Saints will now prepare for the Seminole Valley Stampede, hosted by Mount Mercy University on Saturday, October 3, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 6K race will be conducted at Seminole Valley Park and will begin at 9:45 am.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.