INDIANAPOLIS – The 2020 cross country campaigns were about as close to normal as a sport could hope to be during a COVID-19-riddled year around the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Those regular seasons were a successful test run during the early stages of the academic year despite the cancelled NCAA Championship and Midwest Regional opportunities. Student-athletes were still able to compete for a championship and all-conference honors at the Seneca Hills Golf Course hosted by Tiffin.
The conference still features regionally and nationally ranked programs as selected by the USTFCCCA and the Great Midwest’s 2020-21 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, Christina Sawyer, was a distance standout for the Hillsdale Chargers during her accomplished career.
This year, Cedarville’s prestigious Elvin R. King Course will be the home for the competing men’s and women’s student-athletes in the 2021 Great Midwest Championships. The conference meets will be on Saturday, October 23, to kick off championship season.
The NCAA Midwest Regional returns to Evansville, Ind., before the NCAA Championships are scheduled to take place in Saint Leo, Fla., on November 20. The regular season starts for most schools this weekend
Walsh’s men is establishing a powerhouse program in the conference, winning three Great Midwest team titles in the first four years of their membership. Head coach Rob Mizicko also has the Cavaliers ranked No. 22 nationally and fourth in the Midwest Region. Walsh has made three different team appearances at the NCAA Championships.
Seven of Walsh’s runners secured all-conference honors. Drew Roberts is the team’s top returner after finishing runner-up at the conference championships only behind graduated teammate Noah Murray. Jared Bugaj and Beau Boyden were top five while Xavier Foehl grabbed conference freshman of the year honors as the highest finishing first-year competitor.
Three of the men’s top five season best 8K times in 2020 came from the Louisville Classic, including outdoor track and field Elite 23 Award winner Hunter Kurz of Kentucky Wesleyan. Noticeably, these runners also shine during the indoor and outdoor track campaigns in the 5K and 10K running events, like Findlay’s outdoor freshman of the year Noah Fisher.
Earning a place in the league’s Top 25 all-time list for the 8K distance is increasingly difficult as the conference goes into its 10th year. Roberts still has one of those best performances from the 2019 conference championship meet with a time of 24:50.00, which ranks at No. 21 in Great Midwest history.
The Midwest Region is stacked for the women as well and the Great Midwest has two of the top five programs as designated by the USTFCCCA, Walsh and Hillsdale. The Cavaliers, coached by Mizicko, are also ranked 10th nationally and the Chargers, coached by Andrew Towne, are ranked 16th. Cedarville is nationally ranked at No. 18, but not regionally ranked, a sign of the Midwest depth between the Great Midwest, GLVC and GLIAC.
The Cavaliers and Chargers have shared the spoils in alternating fashion since joining the conference in 2017. Hillsdale, Walsh, Hillsdale, Walsh has been the theme for the past four years as each program has also qualified for the NCAA Championships for three straight seasons as a team.
Malone’s Mackenna Curtis-Collins, the all-time conference record holder in the 6K distance, is back as a redshirt senior as back-to-back conference runner of the year. Curtis-Collins also had 2020’s second-best 5K time while Walsh senior Alexa Leppelmeier owned the fastest, also ranking top 10 in conference history.
Findlay’s Gabrielle Lawrence also had one of the season’s top 6K times and Cedarville’s Rachel Sweeney was the inaugural Elite 23 Award winner for outdoor track and field with one of the best performances coming at the 5K Louisville Classic.