ASHLAND, Ore. - The No. 15 NCU Beacons women's cross country team pulled off a major upset on Saturday, winning the Cascade Conference Preview Meet and toppling No. 7 Concordia and No. 8 Southern Oregon in the process. 

The Beacons were led at the top by Brittany Petersen, Ally Manley and Stephanie Hescock, running in second, third, and fourth place. It was the fourth and fifth finishers for the Beacons that sealed the win, however. 

Sophomore Ashley Kinney took eighth place with a time of 19:33. She was just seconds off her personal record despite running on a slow course, and was just one tenth of a second behind the first finisher for No. 8 Southern Oregon. Taking tenth place in her first collegiate meet was Emily McLean, in a time of 19:54. 

Head Coach Heike McNeil said, "Ashley and Emily are the two runners who won the race for us today. We've always struggled with this huge gap between our 3 and 4th runners but not today. Ashley was the real star of this meet. She dug deep and the result was incredible."

NCU finished with a team score of 27, well ahead of second-place Concordia (46) and third-place Southern Oregon (63). Corban University took fourth (83), followed by Warner Pacific in fifth (113).

Also running for NCU were Heidi Gori (15th, 20:20), Sierra Schorer-Noll (22nd, 20:37), Allison Duvenez (25th, 20:49) and Riley Swanson (29th, 21:23).

The Beacons will return to action in two weeks, running in the Willamette Invitational.