CEDARVILLE, Ohio - The 2017 NCAA Division II Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Midwest Region Championships will be hosted by Cedarville University on Saturday.
Competing with Great Midwest member institutions are the Great Lakes Valley Conference and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Individuals qualify for the Division II Championships in Evansville, Ind., by either finishing in the top five without being on a qualifying team, or being one of the top two individuals not on a qualifying team.
The women’s 6K race will start first at 10:30 a.m. ET at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course.
From an individual standpoint, Walsh junior Sarah Berger will look to continue her streak of strong performances after finishing first in the Great Midwest Championship. Berger owns the top two 6K times in the conference this season as well as the top 5K time.
Hillsdale took first place at the Great Midwest Championships as a team and had three runners finish on the all-conference first team. Senior Hannah McIntyre was runner-up at the conference meet and will run alongside teammates Maryssa Depies (Great Midwest Freshman of the Year) and Arena Lewis.
The top three teams advance out of the regional, which according to the most recent regional poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), would could include both Hillsdale and Walsh behind the GLIAC’s Grand Valley State.
Malone, at number six, and host Cedarville at number eight, are also represented in the top 10 of the Midwest Region and will make a push to continue into the postseason.
Malone’s Jade Smith finished third at the conference meet and Cedarville’s Alaina Spears will be running on her home course after finishing fifth this past week.
The men’s 10K race will begin following that race at 11:45 p.m. ET.
Cedarville senior Daniel Michalski will head the field for the G-MAC after winning the men’s Great Midwest Championship, which was an 8K competition. He owns three of the top four times for that distance this season in the conference. He will attempt to win the Midwest Regional on his home course.
According to the Midwest Region rankings, Walsh and Malone are at four and five, respectively. Cedarville is the other team represented in the top 10 at number seven. Walsh took home the conference team championship, defeating Malone by a single point in a tight race.
The Cavaliers will look for strong performances from juniors Jacob Kernell, Steven Kapes, and Spencer Wirick, all of whom finished on the all-conference first team.
Malone will look for similarly strong performances from senior Nate Boyer, junior George McCartney, and freshman Zach Fresenko (Great Midwest Freshman of the Year). These three rounded out the all-conference first team.