INDIANAPOLIS—The 2023 men’s and women’s cross country season is off and running, with several programs featured at the national level.
 
This year, Malone’s Pioneer Park will be the home for the competing men’s and women’s student-athletes in the 2023 Great Midwest Championships. The conference meets will be on Saturday, October 21, to kick off championship season.
 
The 2023 NCAA Midwest Regional will return to Evansville, Ind., before the NCAA Championships scheduled to take place in Joplin, MO. The regular season kicked off during the first week of September.
 
Walsh’s men have established themselves as a powerhouse program, winning five of the last six Great Midwest titles. Head coach Rob Mizicko also has the Cavaliers receiving votes in the national poll and are ranked 8th in the Midwest Region. The Cavaliers lose 2022 Runner of the Year and All-American Zach Kreft, but return a talented group, “We have four guys coming back with national meet experience because we’ve been there for a couple years in a row now. There’s a whole slew of guys that can be in the mix to contribute for the team.”
 
Four total Great Midwest men’s programs are featured in the regional rankings, including Cedarville (No. 6), Tiffin (No.7), and Findlay (No. 10).
 
The Yellow Jackets are the highest-ranking team in the latest regional poll at No. 6. Cedarville sit at No. 24 in the nation and returns All-American Evan Leist as well as two all-conference selections.
 
Most notably on the men’s side this season is Tiffin freshman Talel Khalfi, who was named the USTFCCA National Athlete of the Week Wednesday morning. Khalfi won his second straight race last weekend, crossing the finish line in a time of 23:40.60 and leading the Dragons to a first place finish at the Tiffelberg Open.
 
The Midwest Region is also stacked for the women as well and the Great Midwest has three of the top 10 programs as designated by the USTFCCCA.
 
Cedarville, coached by Jeff Bolender, is ranked 14th nationally and third in the region. The Yellow Jackets have won two of the last three G-MAC titles and have qualified for the national event as a team on three occasions (2016, 2021, & 2022). Coach Bolender and his squad are looking forward to the championship meet once again this year and the high level of competition, “The G-MAC is just a tremendous conference to be involved with. Incredibly talented teams, you know there’s a lot of teams that have been at nationals and placed really well at nationals over the years.”
 
In addition to Cedarville, Hillsdale is ranked No. 6 in the region, followed by Findlay at No. 10. The Chargers return one of the top runners in the conference in Liz Wamsley. Last season, Wamsley qualified for the national meet as an individual, where she finished 22^nd overall and earned All-American status.

Maya Hamsher from Findlay returns as one of the top runners for the Oilers after earning all-conference status at last year’s conference championship. 

Hear what some of the league's cross country coaches have to say about the 2023 season on episode 102 of Talkin' G-MAC