The Golden Eagles only wish the result of their season's best run in Bowling Green, Ohio on Saturday had been more rewarding. Despite a sixth-place finish, the same spot the team placed at the 2005 Regional, Marquette did not get an invitation to this year's NCAA Championships.,”

The women's cross country team could not have hoped for a better performance at the Great Lakes Regional Championships.

The Golden Eagles only wish the result of their season's best run in Bowling Green, Ohio on Saturday had been more rewarding. Despite a sixth-place finish, the same spot the team placed at the 2005 Regional, Marquette did not get an invitation to this year's NCAA Championships.

For the first time since 1999, the women will not run at Nationals.

"We went six straight years," head coach Dave Uhrich said. "Honestly, I knew the run had to end some time, and to do it with a young team makes it a lot easier. We bring everyone back next year, except for Michaela (Courtney), and I expect to start another six-year streak."

The team struggled at this season's first two qualifying meets. The Golden Eagles recovered and closed with a fifth-place finish at the Big East Championships, followed by an even stronger performance at the Regional against better competition.

"The women ran better at the Regional this year than they did last year," Uhrich said. "But we didn't run quite as well in the earlier meets, which is typical of a very young team. There's not a lot of experience, and your younger runners aren't always prepared in September the way they are in November."

Michigan State won the race, with Wisconsin three points behind.

Captain Cassie Peller, the team's anchor all year, ran arguably the best race of her career, finishing 14th of 209 runners. The effort was not enough for an individual bid to Nationals, though. She would have needed a substantially shorter finishing time of 21:12, as opposed to the 21:43.08 she took to run the 6,000 meters.

"I'm just going to continue to train hard and establish myself," she said. "And I think we're going to be really good next year."

Marquette's men also had mixed emotions regarding their 11th place finish out of 31 teams. It was a marked improvement over last season's 20th place finish. Junior Scott Mueller was 17th, the best individual outing Marquette has had at the Regional since 1993.

"You can't really be happy," he said. "But I peaked when I wanted to peak, and that was another goal, so it was a good way to end the season."

Senior captain Brent Des Roches, the team's number one all year, came out flat. He was bothered by sore ribs.

"But what it all comes down to is that I just didn't get it done," Des Roches said.

Uhrich was less critical of the team than Des Roches was of himself.

"The men were much, much better this year," Uhrich said. "One of the team's goals was to place in the top 10, but I think it was probably their best race of the year."

The Wisconsin men ran away with the competition, beating second-place Notre Dame by 52 points.

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