NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Junior Louisa Lamarre was the individual champion to lead the No. 29-ranked St. Olaf College women's cross country team to the team title at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday morning at a soggy St. Olaf Cross Country Course.

Led by Lamarre's first-place finish, St. Olaf bested No. 19-ranked UW-Eau Claire, a team ranked 10 spots higher than the Oles in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll, by seven points at the top of the 18-team field. The Oles had seven of the top-20 individual finishers and finished with a team score of 47 points.

In a race run in continuing rain that amounted to over two inches on Friday, Lamarre recorded the first individual title of her cross country career with a personal-best 6K time of 22:36.9, finishing just under four seconds ahead of Ellie Hanowski of the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the field of 248 runners. The junior led the field at the 1.6-kilometer, 3-kilometer, and 5.1-kilometer split points.

Junior Abi Lindquist was the No. 2 finisher for St. Olaf in third place in 22:48.6 and was in the top three at all three timing points during the race. Junior Arabella England and first year Stella Powell were separated by less than three seconds in 12th (23:13.3) and 13th (23:15.6), respectively, while first year Linnea Ronning rounded out the Oles' scorers in 18th (23:31.2). England's time was the fastest 6K time of her career.

Although they did not factor into St. Olaf's team score, senior Molly DiNardo and sophomore Anna Britta-Helmer were also in the top 20 in 19th (23:37.3) and 20th (23:40.7), respectively. The Oles' first-place finish at their home invite was their first since 2023.

St. Olaf will be back in action at the Running of the Cows at Carleton College's Bill Huyck Championship Course on Saturday, Oct. 3. There will be two race divisions at the pre-nationals meet: the Maize Division at 10 a.m. and the Navy Championship Division at 11 a.m.