MADISON, Wis. — University of Toledo junior Athena Welsh finished in 85th place Saturday at the NCAA Division I cross country national meet at the University of Wisconsin.

On a cold day with a snow-slicked course, Welsh ran a time of 20:59.1, finishing in the upper half of the 372 runners that competed.

“It was a really great experience,” Welsh said. “I had a lot of fun and it was really cool to finally get to a national meet and see what it’s all about and kind of see how I stacked up.”

Coach Linh Nguyen was proud of the way Welsh ran.

“I thought it was a great race.” Nguyen said. “When you get into a race like this, everybody’s good. And there are probably 89 to 90 women who could be All-American on any given day. I feel like for Athena to get in there and finish 85th is a pretty good result, especially for a first-time trip.”

First Published November 17, 2018, 10:10 p.m.