EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—University of Southern Indiana women's cross country freshman Leslee Getts (Corunna, Indiana) picked a great day to turn out her best performance of the season.

Getts, who finished 19th at the GLVC Championships two weeks ago, was 19th at the NCAA II Great Lakes Region Championships Saturday to help the No. 18 Screaming Eagles to a fourth-place finish and spot in the NCAA II Championships, which are November 17 in Joplin, Missouri.

"Leslee was phenomenal for us today," Head Coach Mike Hillyard said. "To run 19th at conference and turn around and run 19th at the regional meet really gave us a boost."

Sophomore Mary Ballinger (Chesterton, Indiana) also had a great race as she led the Eagles with a third-place finish and 6k time of 21 minutes, 37.28 seconds. Ballinger, who was fourth at the GLVC Championships two weeks ago, earns All-Region honors with her performance.

USI also got solid efforts out of senior Meagan Scheidler (Terre Haute, Indiana), sophomore Sarah Whiteman (Bloomington, Indiana) and sophomore Lacy Williams (Haubstadt, Indiana). Scheidler was 34th, while Whiteman and Williams were 41st and 55th, respectively.

Sophomore Sarah Baysden (Shelbyville, Indiana) and freshman Holly Bartelt (Evansville, Indiana) rounded out USI's line up with 58th and 76th-place finishes, respectively.

As a team, the Eagles finished with 151 points to secure their first trip to the NCAA II Championships since 2005 and their fourth in the last six years. Even more remarkable about the Eagles' effort this season has been the fact that they have lost five of their projected top seven runners to injury throughout the season.