SHELBYVILLE, Ind. – The Franklin College women's cross country team faced off against the top runners from around the conference on Saturday (Oct. 30) at the 2021 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships at Blue River Park.

Franklin's women saw two rookies earn all-conference accolades in their first conference championship showing. As a team, the Grizzlies placed eighth overall, finishing with a team score of 169 points.

Freshman Haley Makowski earned HCAC All-Conference accolades with her showing in the 6K race. The Osceola, Ind.-native hit the finish line in 25:08.1 to finish 11^th overall, just clearing the threshold for all-conference honors. Collecting honorable mention all-conference honors was fellow freshman Ella Bashor, who ended her day with a time of 25:56.1 for an 18^th-place finish and one of eight spots on the honorable mention team.

Freshman Emily Rector placed third on the team and 48^th overall, hitting the finish line in 27:48.9. Not far behind her was senior Taylor Wooten (28:13.3) and junior Emma Bowling (28:43.2), who capped the scoring with 54^th and 57^th place finishes, respectively.

Also taking part in the race for Franklin were: sophomore Mallory Watson (69^th/29:35.4), junior Angelina Gregory (70^th/29:45.3), junior Lex Desenberg (73^rd/30:21.8), sophomore Josie Lyons (78^th/35:08.9), freshman Natalie Venable (80^th/40:52.7) and freshman Emily Doffin (81^st/41:17.1).

Manchester took home the team championship, finishing with 41 points to best runner-up Rose-Hulman.

The Grizzlies will be off for two weeks before returning to Blue River Park to serve as the host for the 2021 Great Lakes Championship.