NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 17-ranked St. Olaf College women's cross country team won its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) team title since 2021 by topping No. 10-ranked Carleton College by a 20-point margin on Saturday morning at St. Olaf Cross Country Course.

St. Olaf knocked off Carleton – the reigning national champions and two-time defending conference champions – by placing all five of its scorers in the all-conference (top 15) spots. The Oles compiled a program-record-low 34 points to top the Knights, who had the individual champion and two other runners in the top six but no other all-conference finishers. Saturday's race marked the first time an NCAA Division III team finished ahead of Carleton in any race since the 2022 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship.

Prior to Saturday, St. Olaf's lowest team score at the MIAC Championships was 36 in its 2000 team title. The team title was the 11th for the Oles (1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2021, 2024) and the second in a row in MIAC Championships held on the Oles' home course. Coupled with the men's team winning the title, Saturday marked the first time ever that St. Olaf swept the two conference titles in the same year and the first time since 2019 that the same institution won the men's and women's championships.

Senior Alison Bode and junior Lauren Walda led the way for St. Olaf by placing second and third, respectively, with times of 22:04.4 and 22:08.3. The all-conference accolade was the third in a row for Walda and the second of Bode's career (2022, 2024). Walda is the 12th Ole to earn at least three All-MIAC honors in women's cross country.

Juniors Ella Landis and Isabel Wyatt both collected their first All-MIAC accolades in cross country by joining Bode and Walda in the top 10. Landis was seventh (22:51.5) and Wyatt was 10th (22:57.8), while fellow junior Grace Moeller grabbed her second all-conference accolade in a row in 12th (23:02.0).

St. Olaf also had three runners finish in the Honorable Mention All-MIAC positions (16-25) to finish the race with eight of the top 25 overall. Senior Sophie Abernethy placed 17th (23:20.3) to post a third consecutive honorable-mention performance, while junior Molly Kate McCloskey (20th, 23:28.5) and first year Abi Lindquist (22nd, 23:29.3) logged their first top-25 placements.

The Oles will host the Cannon River Closer 5K on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. for the team's runners who will not be competing at the NCAA Division III North Region Championships at Carleton on Saturday, Nov. 16.