CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The postseason continued as 10 Great Midwest Athletic Conference men’s and women’s programs ran at the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Cross Country Championships on Saturday.
Each hoped to advance to the next stage, which is the NCAA Division II Championships in Evanston, Ind. The top three teams in each 6K (women) and 10K (men) race automatically qualified for nationals, along with the top two individuals or anyone who finished in the top five on a non-qualifying team.
On the women’s side, two teams punched their tickets as automatic qualifiers after Hillsdale was runner-up and Walsh placed third. Grand Valley State, the top ranked team in the country from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, won the women’s 6K team race.
Hillsdale, the reigning Great Midwest team champion, is making the program’s fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships as a team qualifier. For Walsh, it represents the school’s first national championship (as a DII member) appearance on the women’s side.
The Great Midwest established the top three women’s placewinners at the meet, led by regional champion Sarah Berger of Walsh. Berger, the Great Midwest Runner of the Year, ran a time of 21:19.30, and was closely followed by two more league competitors, Hannah McIntyre of Hillsdale and Jade Smith of Malone to lead the pack.
Berger now owns the top three 6K performances in the conference on the year. Joining Berger on the podium own were teammates and fellow USTFCCCA Midwest All-Region selections sophomore Andra Lehotay and junior Brianna Coy, finishing 11th and 21st, respectively.
The top 25-finishers of each race received USTFCCCA Midwest All-Region Team recognition.
For Hillsdale, four Midwest All-Region Team honorees paved the way to their second-place standing in the 28-team regional. McIntyre led the way with a second-place finish individually at 21:25.50. A second top-10 finisher in ninth was found in sophomore Arena Lewis followed by freshman Christina Sawyer at 18th and Great Midwest Freshman of the Year Maryssa Depies at 24th.
Malone also finished in the top 10 of the team scoring with senior Jade Smith automatically qualifying for the National Championship after a third-place finish, Hannah Thompson rounded out the conference’s selections for the all-region team, finishing 17th.
Behind those three teams were Cedarville (11th), Trevecca (17th), Davis & Elkins (20th), Findlay (22nd), Alderson Broaddus (23rd), and Ohio Valley (26th).
On the men’s side, Walsh posted the best finish in the conference, coming in fourth place behind Grand Valley State (GLIAC), Southern Indiana (GLVC) and Lewis (GLVC). The Cavaliers were led by automatic national qualifier junior Jacob Kernell, who finished third in the 10K event with a time of 31:28.30. He was joined by USTFCCCA Midwest All-Region Team selection and fellow junior Steven Kapes, who finished 14th.
The Cavaliers will wait to see if they did enough to secure one of the eight at-large bids that will be awarded on Monday evening in an announcement by the NCAA.
Walsh was followed by Malone, which finished seventh out of 28 teams in the event. Pacing the Pioneers were senior Nate Boyer and junior George McCartney, who finished together at 21st and 22nd, respectively for regional honors.
The final member of the Midwest All-Region Team was Cedarville senior Daniel Michalski, the winner of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship. He finished in ninth with a time of 31:39.10.
He was the leader of the eighth-place finishing Yellow Jackets and will also hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, as eight individual competitors receive at-large bids if they are on a team that does not receive one.
Rounding out the men’s team placing for the conference was Hillsdale at 10th, followed by Davis & Elkins (12th), Findlay (17th), Ohio Valley (24th), Trevecca (26th) and Alderson Broaddus (28th).
The NCAA Championships event will start on Saturday, November 18, at Angel Mounds with the women’s 6K race at 10:15 a.m. CT. This will be followed the men’s 10K at 11:30 a.m. CT. The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be hosted by University of Southern Indiana in conjunction with Evansville Sports Corporation.