In the spirit of Halloween, Ava Earl and Northwestern put on a scary good performance at the Big Ten Championships.

The Division I standout from Girdwood covered the 6-kilometer course in East Lansing, Mich., in 20 minutes, 24.5 seconds to place 13th individually, leading the ‘Cats to a third-place finish — the program’s highest finish since 1986.

Earl, a graduate student, gradually moved up as the race progressed, coming through the first kilometer in 43rd before moving into the top 25 just one kilometer later. By the fourth kilometer, the South High grad had rocketed into 15th and later blazed a 5K split of 16:59.

In the end, Earl finished 13th, marking her best finish ever at the Big Ten Championships, after placing 14th last fall, 43rd in 2022 and 74th in 2023. She earned second-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight season, while averaging a blistering pace of 5:28 per mile.

Oregon’s Diana Cherotich won the race in 19:31, leading the Ducks to their second straight Big Ten title with a conference-record 18 points.

Penn State slid into second with 78 points, while Northwestern finished third with 96 points. The ‘Cats narrowly held off fourth-place Washington (103), who briefly moved into the top-3 with one kilometer to go.

Northwestern posted a 1-5 span of just 14.9 seconds — the smallest spread of the 18-team field — while placing all five scorers in the top-30.

The third-place is particularly impressive following the expansion from 14 to 18 teams last fall, after the dissolution of the Pac-12 conference. The additions included Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC.

Since then, Earl and the ‘Cats have continued to rise to the occasion — a resurgence first spurred by coach Jill Miller, who took over the helm in 2019. Now, they possess Northwestern’s best conference finish since 1986, when the ‘Cats tied for second with Iowa. They also finished second in 1985.

This season has been extraordinary for the ‘Cats, who currently rank No. 8 in the USTFCCCA national coaches poll — their highest ranking in program history.

After starting the season unranked, Northwestern moved into the No. 25 spot, following wins at the Cowboy Preview and the Big Ten Preview. They were upgraded to a then-program best at No. 18 two weeks later, following a runner-up finish at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational before catapulting into the top-10.

The ‘Cats will bring their postseason momentum to the Midwest Regional Championships on Nov. 14.