EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The eighth-ranked Cedarville women's program lived up to its lofty billing and then some, finishing runner up at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Midwest Regional on Saturday.
By virtue of finishing among the top five teams, the Yellow Jackets officially booked a trip to sunny Saint Leo, Fla., for the NCAA Division II Championship meet hosted by Saint Leo University on Saturday, Nov. 19.
Every program from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference was represented well in the 10K men's race and the 6K women's race at Angel Mounds hosted again by the University of Southern Indiana.
The Midwest Regional consisted of G-MAC, Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) institutions.
After the G-MAC sent two to nationals last year with Cedarville's Benjamin Tuttle (finished as a USTFCCCA All-American) and Trevecca Nazarene's Caroline Hampton, the league was once again poised for a big showing.
Cedarville's women, ranked as high as No. 6 throughout the course of the regular season, finished ahead of host USI, ranked sixth nationally coming in.
Coming off their fifth consecutive conference title, the Yellow Jackets were paced by junior Carsyn Koch and G-MAC Runner of the Year Olivia Esbenshade, who finished in ninth and 11th, respectively.
With over 220 runners in the field, no Cedarville women's student-athlete finished below 33rd overall. Koch, Esbenshade and sophomore Kayla Casaletto (25th) all earned USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region Team status.
Koch was running in just her fourth event of the fall and clocked a 21-minute flat time in the 6K, a new all-time G-MAC record. Koch eclipsed 21:29.11 recorded by Trevecca Nazarene's Caroline Hampton in 2014. Esbenshade's time wasn't far at all off of Koch's pace and she established the second-best G-MAC 6K time ever with a 21:03.00.
To also put it in perspective, all times clocked by Cedarville's runners with Hailey Blackwell (21:37.00), Alaina Spears (21:47.00) and Olivia Kundo (21:47.00), would have been able to topple the previous season-best 6K record of 2016 coming into this race.
The women for Malone, guided by now three-time USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region Team honoree Hannah Campbell, was just on the outside of the cut line, missing a trip to nationals by only 12 points to finish sixth.
The Yellow Jackets weren't done there as they established a new conference team record with a time of 1:47:00.00, less than four seconds off the blistering pace set by champ Grand Valley State. Cedarville had a 1:51:00.00 earlier this year at the All-Ohio Championships.
Two-time G-MAC Runner of the Year and 2015 NCAA qualifier Caroline Hampton (Trevecca Nazarene) was reportedly up towards the top 10 of the pack before retiring from the race due to injury.
Malone's men, host of this year's G-MAC Championship, edged out Cedarville as the Pioneers finished back-to-back at 11th and 12th in the 31-team field.
The top G-MAC men's runner in the field was 2016 G-MAC Runner of the Year George McCartney. McCartney finished 34th in the 10K with a 31:38, sixth best all-time in conference history.
Incoming 2017-18 G-MAC member institution Hillsdale also qualified both teams to the national meet. The Chargers' women placed fifth and the men earned fourth.