The Valparaiso women’s cross country squad closed out the 2012 season on Friday afternoon in Madison, Wis., running to a 30^th place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, led by sophomore Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./North), who ran the second-fastest 6K time in Crusader history.

The Crusaders totaled 854 points for their 30^th-place finish, placing ahead of a pair of Horizon League squads in Milwaukee and Cleveland State.  Michigan earned the team title with 41 points, while Ohio’s Julie Accurso took individual top honors.

Richardson topped all but one previous Crusader runner with her six-kilometer time on Friday afternoon, crossing the finish line in an even 22:00, good for 83^rd place.  Only Laura Rolf has covered 6K faster than Richardson did on Friday.  Junior Grace Shemwell (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) was the next Valpo runner across the line, finishing in 180^th place with a time of 23:49, while freshman Dezzarae Arce (Orland Park, Ill./Andrew) was close behind Shemwell, finishing in 23:57 to place 184^th.

Valpo’s final two scoring runners finished consecutively.  Freshman Hannah Schilling (Fraser, Mich./Lutheran North) came home in 24:54 to finish in 203^rd place, while senior Haley Kerlin (Rensselaer, Ind./Rensselaer) closed out her Crusader career with a 204^th-place finish, crossing the line in 24:57.