SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Two careers were celebrated at the highest level of competition as the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex on the Arcade Creek Course.
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference sent three teams (Walsh, Hillsdale women; Walsh men) to compete among the elite with the country’s top regional qualifiers in attendance.
Individual qualifiers were also in the field as Hillsdale’s Joseph Humes and the tandem of Malone’s Mackenna Curtis-Collins and Hannah Thompson, all made the trip based on their performance at the Midwest Regional.
With beautiful weather on the West Coast, it was Humes and Thompson both emerging in their respective 10K and 6K races to take their place at the awards podium for USTFCCCA All-American status among the top 40 finishers.
Thompson ran a 20:52.00 to finish 27th out of 260 total competitors. She is just the sixth NCAA All-American in women’s cross country in conference history, joining some impressive company.
Sarah Berger (Walsh), Hannah McIntyre (Hillsdale) and Jade Smith (Malone, all earned All-American honors during the 2017 national championships. Last year in Pittsburgh, it was Walsh’s Brianna Coy and Hillsdale’s Arena Lewis earning top-40 placement.
Adams State (Colo.) earned the women’s 6K team title with the top three finishers crossing the tape.
As a side note, two individuals with direct Great Midwest ties from Alaska Anchorage also placed in the top 10 overall, Emmanuelah Chelimo and Nancy Jeptoo. Chelimo is the sister of Olympics silver medalist Paul Chelimo, the 2017 Great Midwest Championship guest speaker in Nashville, Tenn., when Trevecca Nazarene hosted.
Jeptoo used to compete at Alderson Broaddus before transferring to Alaska Anchorage.
Walsh and Hillsdale were bookend pairings in the final team scoring at No. 10 and No. 11, respectively. The Cavaliers and Chargers made up two of the top three programs representing the Midwest Region.
Andra Lehotay was just one place away from being an All-American, finishing 41st to carry the mantle as Walsh’s top finisher. Junior Alexa Leppelmeier and freshman Bridget Hahn also placed in the top 100 of the field.
Walsh ran a total team time of 1:47.59.20. Likewise, Hillsdale also had three individuals in the top 100, sophomore Sophia Maeda, the 2018 All-American Lewis and freshman Gwynne Riley. HC was the winner of the Great Midwest Championship team title to kick off the postseason around the league.
Humes is now a back-to-back All-American for Hillsdale after bettering his performance from a year ago out at Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. The senior recorded a 25th-place finish in 2018 and this year was 19th in the large pack of 263 runners.
He is the only two-time All-American in Great Midwest history while joining Cedarville’s Matt Brooker and Benjamin Tuttle among the league’s top 40 finishers since 2012.
Walsh went into nationals ranked 19th nationally as a team and the reigning Great Midwest team champions ended up 28th in the 10K team scores. Jacob Caniford paced the Cavaliers with a finish just outside the top 50.