COLUMBIA, Mo. — Two seniors paced the Ouachita women's cross country team to earn a top-five finish out of 20 schools Friday at the seventh annual Gans Creek Classic hosted by Missouri.

The Tigers tallied a team score of 169 in the open division, fueled by three runners that finished inside the top 50 of a competitive 6K race.

Senior Allison Hylkema set the tone with another strong performance and placed 17th out of 229 finishers with a time of 22:35.9. Senior Kate Nachtigal followed in 35th with a time of 23:06.8 to give Ouachita two runners finishing inside the top 40.

Junior Lucy Holden rounded out the Tigers' top three finishers in 48th with a time of 23:22.7. Junior Blair Turpen impressed in her first collegiate 6K, placing 61st to set a new personal-best time of 23:40.3. Senior Elise Knight finished in 64th and matched her personal-best time of 23:46.6, which she previously set at the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Regional Championships in November. 

The upperclassmen secured Ouachita's third top-five team result of the 2025 season. Both cross country teams return home to shift the focus to host the Tiger Invitational, scheduled on Oct. 10 in Arkadelphia.