LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 25-ranked St. Olaf College women's cross country team recorded the program's best national finish since 2012 by placing 13th at the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship on Saturday at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.

St. Olaf used its depth to record the program's best finish since the 2012 team finished eighth, as the Oles' top-five finishers all placed in the top 160 and were separated by less than 43 seconds. Four of St. Olaf's five scorers established new collegiate personal-best times in the meet.

The top-15 national finish was the 15th in program history for St. Olaf, as the Oles finished ahead of 12 teams ranked ahead of them in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll. St. Olaf finished above No. 10 Middlebury, No. 13 Dickinson, No. 15 Carnegie Mellon, No. 16 Calvin, No. 17 Bates, No. 18 UW-Eau Claire, No. 19 John Carroll, No. 20 Emory, No. 21 Amherst, No. 22 Carleton, No. 23 Brandeis, and No. 24 Case Western on the leaderboard.

First year Sofia Carlson was St. Olaf's top finisher in 65th place, shattering her previous personal-best 6K time from last week's regional by over 30 seconds with a time of 22:07.8. Carlson was 78th at the 4K split before moving up 13 spots over the final two kilometers of the race.

Sophomore Julia Everest and senior Ellen Mickelson were separated by just over three seconds and seven places in 95th and 102nd place, respectively, with times of 22:25.6 and 22:28.9. Mickelson's time was a personal best by over 12 seconds, as she rose 18 spots up the leaderboard over the final one kilometer and 26 spots over the final two kilometers.

Sophomore Bella Call and senior Samantha Posey also established personal-best 6K times to round out St. Olaf's five scorers. Call broke her previous best time by over 20 seconds with a 127th-place performance (22:36.8), while Posey clocked in in 158th place (22:50.1).

Also running in the meet for the Oles were sophomore Sophie Call (205th, 23:11.8) and first year Alison Bode (243rd, 23:32.0).

Johns Hopkins edged Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by two points for its seventh national championship with a team score of 130. Kassie Rosenbum of Loras claimed the individual national title in 20:11.1, finishing over 17 seconds ahead of Ari Marks of Wellesley.