KENOSHA, Wis. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's cross country team took second place at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regionals as they finished with a score of 110. Grand Valley won the meet with 45 points.

The Lady Cardinals finished with a spread of 1:11 amongst their top-5 runners as they used pack running to achieve their goal of qualifying for the 2012 NCAA National Championships. This is the second consecutive season the SVSU women's cross country team has qualified for the national meet.

Emily Short (Tawas, Mich. / Tawas Area HS) led the Cardinals with a time of 21:24 in the 6k race and finished in fifth place overall out of 158 participants. Lauren Hill (Flat Rock, Mich.) followed just five seconds behind Short as she crossed the line with a mark of 21:29 in sixth position.

Freshman Taylor Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) finished third on the team for SVSU as she completed the course in 22:05 in 23rd place at her first regional race. Tori Peet (Lapeer, Mich. / West HS) ran well for SVSU as she recorded a time of 22:21 and ended up in 32nd place at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course.

The SVSU top-5 was rounded out by Teha Ames (Shepherd, Mich.) who posted a mark of 22:35 good for 44th position overall.

Saginaw Valley's lineup was completed by Amanda Paris (Hemlock, Mich.) and Chantelle Fondren (Chesaning, Mich.) who finished with times of 23:20 (83rd) and 23:23 (87th), respectively.

The Lady Cardinals qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships in Joplin, Mo. in two weeks on November 17th.