Official Results
2021 Great Midwest All-Conference Team (PDF)
CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The depth of Walsh’s program was showcased on Saturday as the Cavaliers earned their fourth team title in five years following the conclusion of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Cross Country Championship.
The Cavaliers were tops among the 10 teams scored in the 8K competition with a total time of 2:04:14.00. It was strength in numbers for head coach Rob Mizicko, who had to be pleased with his runners finishing 2-4, 10-12 and 16-17, with a total of eight student-athletes gaining all-conference medals.
Mizicko was crowned Great Midwest Coach of the Year once again, his fourth award since 2017 when Walsh joined the league as a full member institution.
Findlay sophomore Noah Fisher crossed the line first with a time of 24:22.20 to become the first Findlay runner earning Great Midwest Runner of the Year status. Fisher had earned conference athlete of the week once in the fall and was coming off an impressive outdoor track and field campaign where he was named freshman of the year.
The Cavaliers were led up front by Hunter Moore, Nathan Moore and Drew Roberts, a strong and formidable trio that matches up against anyone in the region and in Division II. Moore was the meet runner-up just a shade over two seconds behind Fisher. Another Walsh freshman, Zach Beneteau joined the group with first team all-conference status by finishing in 10th overall.
Nathan Moore was presented with Great Midwest Freshman of the Year with his third-place finish in the meet. Roberts, last year’s conference individual runner-up, finished fourth for another first team all-conference award.
Tiffin had a very strong showing with a third-place team finish only behind the champion Cavaliers and host Cedarville Yellow Jackets. The Dragons had a pair top-10 bookend finishers with Tony Nickerson and Nathaniel Ondracek placing fifth and sixth, respectively, while Jaylen Lasseter also was among the top 20 finishers.
The Yellow Jackets also had four on the all-conference team led by a seventh-place performance from junior Evan Leist. Ramen Felumlee was ninth and Isaiah Kelly and Caleb Pendleton finished back-to-back at 14th and 15th.
Hillsdale’s Adam Wier came in eighth to help the Chargers come in fourth as a team. Malone finished out the top five teams while Findlay, first-year league member Ashland and Lake Erie, followed in order.
Tiffin had another individual award as senior Jacob Zinn was presented with the Elite 25 Award for the second straight year (Elite 23 in 2020 – additional of men’s and women’s bowling changed the official title). Zinn is a double major in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics and has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA for the Dragons. He is the first back-to-back winner of the award, presented to the individual with the highest cumulative GPA entered in the race with at least sophomore classification academically and athletically.
Teams will now start preparation for the NCAA Midwest Regional in Evansville, Ind., at Angel Mounds before some programs/individuals will eventually punch their ticket to nationals that will be conducted in Florida hosted by Saint Leo University.