“You could see Alexis’ progress coming last spring and continue to grow this fall,” director of Cross Country and Track and Field Walt Drenth said in a press release. “Her running has been a reflection of her leadership.”

Wiersma finished the race with a mark of 20:12.1, while her teammates, junior Shelby Jackson and senior Katie Landwehr, finished within three seconds one of another, with Jackson being the second Spartan to finish at 20:42.4, and Landwehr at 20:45.8, respectively.

“Ally (Alexis) has great energy and enthusiasm, and she looks to help,” Drenth said. “Those are important in competition, and all of those traits help her engage and think forward in a difficult meet. She was outstanding. Teams follow leaders, and she did an outstanding job.”

New Mexico won the team title with a score of 49, while Colorado and Oregon rounded out the top three, respectively. MSU combined for a score of 368 for 13th and was second among Big Ten schools behind Michigan in sixth.

The men’s cross country team finished 25th at the NCAA Championships, with junior Sherod Hardt pacing the squad, coming in 54th with a time of 30:35.7. Senior Caleb Rhynard finished his running career at MSU placing 79th with a time of 30:47.2. Junior T.J. Carey rounded out MSU’s top three, racing to a 31:18.1 for 139th.

“I think our expectations were a little higher,” Drenth said. “They followed the race plan, though. We were marginally engaged last year, but this year the whole group was engaged. I asked them to do a couple of things that counter what we normally do, but they took a big chance. What I really appreciated from them, though, was that they engaged and did what we asked them to try to do.”