Following a rock-solid performance at the Midwest Regional Championships, Ava Earl and Northwestern are headed to nationals.

The Division I standout from Girdwood conquered the 6-kilometer course in Stillwater, Okla., in 20 minutes, 46.4 seconds to place 15th individually, leading the Wildcats to a runner-up finish — punching their ticket to the big dance for just the fourth time in program history.

Earl, a South High grad, found herself in 40th place after the first kilometer, before passing 13 runners to move into 27th by the second kilometer and cracking the top 20 with two kilometers to go.

Like they’ve done all season, the ‘Cats found power in the pack. Each teammate utilized their unique skillset to remain within 10 seconds of one another throughout the race’s entirety.

While Earl was the first ‘Cat through the 3-mile mark in 16:40 and the first finisher for the ‘Cats, she was followed immediately by her iconic purple entourage as all five scorers placed in the top 20.

Just eight seconds separated Earl from Northwestern’s fifth scorer.

Oklahoma State’s Isca Chelangat won the race in 19:48, leading the No, 9 Cowgirls in a sweep of the team titles for the third straight season with 55 points.

The ‘Cats accounted for 20 percent of the All-Region honors, while Earl — who doubles as a professional singer-songwriter — collected her fourth All-Region honor after taking 15th (2025), 8th (2024), 8th (2023) and 25th (2022).

But the show doesn’t stop there.

By placing runner-up with 86 points, the ‘Cats are headed back to the national championships for just the fourth time in program history, securing the second auto-qualified ahead of No. 6 Iowa State (108). Northwestern previously qualified in 1985, 2002 and 2022, with a program-best 13th place in their inaugural appearance.

Earl will be making her third trip to the ‘ship, after qualifying in 2022 and going individually in 2023, placing 64th in the latter. She finished one spot shy of qualifying last fall.

Perhaps most notable, Northwestern entered the season unranked.

But that didn’t matter, because the team’s results spoke for themselves over the last few months.

The ‘Cats began the season with a pair of wins at the Cowboy Preview and the Big Ten Preview, catapulting into No. 25 in the USTFCCCA national coaches poll. They were upgraded to a then-program-best at No. 18 two weeks later, following a runner-up finish at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. At the Nuttycombe Invitational, a historic fifth-place finish skyrocketed the ‘Cats to a top-10 spot in the rankings at No. 8, before achieving a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships — their best finish at the conference meet in nearly 40 years.

Now sitting at No. 11 nationally, the secret to Northwestern’s success has been its minuscule spread, paired with exceptional team chemistry and mastermind Jill Miller, who took over the helm in 2019.

In every race this season, the team’s top-5 has been a revolving door, separated by 28 seconds or less — a feat unmatched at the Division I level — which will be on display again in just eight short days.

The NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be held in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 22.

A few other Alaskans competed at their respective Division I regional championships:

• Fairbanks’ Daniel Abramowicz (West Valley) had a breakout performance while representing San Francisco at the West Region Championships. The graduate student covered the 10K course in 30:43, netting a 67-second personal best, to finish 64th — a staggering 68 places higher than in 2023. Abramowicz was the third scorer for the Dons, who placed 14th out of 30 teams.
• North Pole’s Madeline Castillo set a personal best at the South Region Championships, representing North Florida. The sophomore clocked 21:24 for 6K, slashing 6.9 seconds from her time to place 99th — a whopping 77 spots higher than last fall. Castillo finished as the third scorer for the Ospreys, who took 18th out of 28 teams.
• Anchorage’s Tristian Merchant (MCCA) competed at the Southeast Region Championships. The Liberty junior covered the 10K course in 32:02 to finish 106th, as the Flames placed 13th out of 33 teams.
• Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar, an associate head coach at Virginia, guided the Hoos a third- and fourth-place finish at the Southeast Region Championships. UVA will see if its among the 13 at-large teams to qualify for nationals via the selection show on Saturday (Nov. 15).