TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The No. 14-ranked St. Olaf College women's cross country team recorded its fourth consecutive top-20 national finish by placing 17th at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship on Saturday morning at LaVern Gibson Championship Course.

Led by an All-America performance by senior Alison Bode, St. Olaf compiled 488 points to tie No. 21-ranked Carleton College in the 32-team field but edged the Knights on the tiebreaker. In the NCAA, the tiebreaker is determined by comparing the head-to-head finishes between the team's top-five runners. St. Olaf's No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 runners finished ahead of their Carleton counterparts, giving the Oles the 17th-place spot.

In the final cross country race of her career, Bode earned the first All-America accolade of her career in cross country by placing 34th in 21:43.2, which ranks eighth on St. Olaf's all-time six-kilometer list. The time was a 12-second personal best for the senior, who moved up 13 spots over the final kilometer in her fourth appearance at the national meet. Prior to Saturday, Bode's top national finish was 66th in 2022.

Junior Lauren Walda was the second Ole to cross the finish line in 22:09.1 to finish 71st for her third consecutive top-100 finish at the national meet. Senior Sophie Abernethy, junior Grace Moeller, and junior Isabel Wyatt were all in the top 200 to round out the Oles' five scorers. Abernethy took 168th (22:45.4), Moeller was 193rd (22:57.4), and Wyatt was 194th (22:58.1).

Wyatt's time was just three-tenths of a second shy of her collegiate cross country PR, as the junior rose 24 spots over the final kilometer. Wyatt's strong finish in her first appearance at the national meet helped St. Olaf surge up five spots in the team standings over the last kilometer.

In their first times competing at the NCAA Championship, junior Molly Kate McCloskey and senior Jules Fromm finished 241st (23:30.0) and 269th (23:52.3), respectively. The appearance at the national meet was the 29th in program history for the Oles, who have finished in the top 20 in 20 of the 29 races on the national stage.