WAVERLY – The defending Midwest Conference champion and 2025 NCAA qualifier Lidia Dahlman picked up where she left off at Saturday's season-opening John Kurtt Invitational at Max Cross Country Course.
 
Dahlman cruised to the women's individual title with 15 seconds to spare, clocking a course-record 4K time of 14:20. She beat 57 competitors in the four-team field, which included regionally-ranked No. 2 Wartburg and No. 9 Augustana.
 
Lexi Brown, of Wartburg Alumni, took runner-up in 14:35. Dahlman crossed a full 46 seconds ahead of the next-fastest collegiate finisher (Wartburg's Sydney Bochmann).
 
Dahlman's dominant showing paced the No. 7 regionally-ranked Rams to a runner-up team finish with 63 points. Wartburg posted a winning score of 30 points.
 
The Rams received top-15 finishes from juniors Milar Little (13th in 15:24) and Carley Seeley (14th in 15:30). Zoe Peesel ran 16:04 for 21st place. Sophomore Gretchyn Fairlie brought home Cornell's fifth score, taking 27th in 16:12.
 
Newcomers Lily Manzo (16:34) and Hannah Stone (16:44) placed 34th and 35th, respectively, in their collegiate debuts.
 
Coming up – The Rams are back in action Sept. 19 at Wheaton's Gil Dodds Invitational in Warrenville, Ill.