GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Throughout the 2025 season, it's been quite apparent that the women's cross country program at Shawnee State is a tight-knit group.

However, when a team has an excellent blend of veteran leaders who have grown up together, coupled with a group of young guns who are looking to prove themselves at every meet on the schedule, it's easy to see how Shawnee State has developed into a top-25 caliber program once again under Shawnee State Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Conner Flynn.

In a nationally renown meet as part of the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge in Grand Rapids, Mich., each of Shawnee State's seven runners that took part in Saturday's meet all set personal bests -- with Olivia Cisco and Jessica Elick putting together top-flight paces to lead the Bears once again as Shawnee State finished 13th from a team standpoint Saturday morning.

Cisco, who posted the best time of the group, finished eighth en route to notching a 17:57.20, which was a personal best of over 11.5 seconds. In doing so, Cisco also was one of just nine individuals in the event to run underneath 18 minutes in the entire field in the race itself.

Of the seven individuals that finished in front of Cisco, three of those were NAIA National top-50 runners in last season's NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships, including Marian (Ind.)'s Katie Woods, who finished third in the 2024 national championship meet. Cisco finished within 15 seconds of Woods' second-place performance in the race.

Behind Cisco, Jessica Elick also enjoyed a terrific day, finishing 23rd behind a strong 18:30.3 and coming within nine seconds of a top-20 finish. Elick, who posted a personal best that was nearly 32 full seconds faster than her previous PB, also joined Cisco as one of 58 runners in the 187-harrier field to run underneath 19 minutes in the five-kilometer event.

Along with the duo, Shawnee State freshman Payton McQuirt enjoyed a career day, running a 19:13.20 to finish 79th overall and make a massive personal best jump of over 46 seconds in doing so, while Juniper Allen's 120th place run of 19:41.7 was nearly 13 full seconds faster than her previous personal best.

Kirsten Evans (153rd, 20:33.2), Sydney Reed (155th, 20:35.1) and Hadlee Cisco (159th, 20:40.5) all joined the previous quartet in also setting personal bests as Evans set an eight-and-a-half second personal best, Reed set a 23.8 second personal best time, and Hadlee Cisco put together a personal best time of over 47 seconds to round out an excellent day for the Bears.

"Our women's team had a phenomenal day across the board," Flynn said. "I challenged them, and they responded in a great way. Being short handed and missing two top-six athletes, we still managed to beat some very good teams and every woman on the course set a significant PB."

For more information on the Shawnee State women's cross country program, follow the Bears on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shawnee_state_xctf/.