HOUGHTON, Mich. â€Ã‚“ The Northern Michigan Universitycross country team started their season off with a bang as they easily won theMTU Invitational with 15 points as the host school, Michigan Tech was secondwith 45 points and Finlandia was third with 85 points.

The â€Ã‚˜Cats ran away with the top five places as Jennie Lahrwon the event with a time of 20:09.96. Tammi Kochen in second place had a time of 20:11.54 as Maria Stuber wasthird (20:17.51).  Rounding out the topfive were Stephanie Howe in fourth place (20:30.22) and Tracy Wills in fifthplace (20:34.45).

The â€Ã‚˜Cats are at the Bulldog Invitational next Saturday(Sept. 13).