COLFAX, Wis. / WAVERLY, Iowa (naccsports.org) --- A total of four Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) cross country runners received all-region honors by virtue of a top-35 finish in their respective NCAA Division III Cross Country Regional Championships Saturday.
The NACC's six Illinois schools competed at the NCAA Division III Midwest Region Championships hosted by Wartburg College at Max Championship Cross Country Course in Waverly, Iowa, while the NACC's Wisconsin programs took part in the NCAA Division III North Region Championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wisconsin.
Midwest Region --- Max Championship Cross Country Course, Waverly, Iowa (Wartburg College, host)
MEN
Benedictine's
Karan Shetty was the top NACC finisher in the regional for the second year in a row, earning all-region honors with a 24th-place finish (25:04.7).
Concordia Chicago's
Dominic Carlson was the next NACC runner across the line, placing 115th (27:33.3). Carlson was followed by Aurora's
Joshua Thoms (135th, 27:57.5), Rockford's
Miles Lang (136th, 27:57.9), and Illinois Tech's
Lane Regan (28:12.0).
Concordia Chicago was the top-placed NACC program in 27th place (777 points), followed by Illinois Tech in 28th place (804). Aurora, Benedictine, Dominican, and Rockford competed but did not qualify for a team score.
WOMEN
Aurora's
N'Dya Fields was the top-placed NACC runner, placing 36th overall with a time of 23:20.4. She missed claiming all-region honors by two seconds.
Four other Spartans finished in the top 100.
Alex Gonzalez placed 48th (23:42.8), while
Emma Jasutis (24:04.8),
Mika Fields (24:09.1), and
Mallory Arroyo (24:18.4) placed 71st, 78th, and 85th, respectively.
Aurora was the top-placed NACC program in 10th place with 313 points, followed by Rockford in 23rd place (729), Concordia Chicago in 25th (778), and Illinois Tech in 27th (795). Benedictine and Dominican competed but did not qualify for a team score.
North Region --- Whitetail Golf Course, Colfax, Wis. (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, host)
MEN
NACC individual champion
Isaiah Lubner was the highest-finishing NACC runner, placing 33rd in a time of 25:40.0.
MSOE's
Samuel McPeak missed out on all-region honors by the slimmest of margins for the second year in a row. Last year, McPeak placed 38th overall and missed by 1.6 seconds. This year, he improved to 37th place overall and missed by just 1.3 seconds.
McPeak was joined in the top 100 by teammates
Zach Zuzzio (46th, 25:58.5),
Patrick Lee (54th, 26:04.9),
Jackson Braun (70th, 26:19.5), and
Cody Zenyuh (77th, 26:29.3).
St. Norbert also had a quartet of runners in the top 100 -
Lawrence Huffman (53rd, 26:04.3),
Kyan Lynts (59th, 26:08.6),
Michael Chudy (64th, 26:14.4), and
Christian Lopez (84th, 26:36.8)
CUW's
Jonah Slavik (85th, 26:38.0), Edgewood's
Tyler Mueller (80th, 26:31.2), and Wisconsin Lutheran's
Isaiah Herried (79th, 26:31.2) and
Arnold Rupnow (93rd, 26:50.0) also finished in the top 100.
Augsburg's Mohammed Bati (24:23.7) won the individual title for the second year in a row. He won by nearly six seconds over UW-La Crosse's Grant Matthai (24:29.4). Matthai's brother Aidan (24:33.2) - also of UW-La Crosse - took third.
MSOE posted the top team score amongst NACC men's programs at the regional, finishing ninth with 284 points. St. Norbert was 15th with 390 points, followed by Wisconsin Lutheran in 18th (526) and Concordia Wisconsin in 20th (570). Edgewood competed but did not qualify for a team score.
WOMEN
Concordia Wisconsin junior
Emma Ahrens was the highest-placed NACC individual in the women's 6,000-meter event, placing eighth with a time of 22:06.2. She just missed out on all-region honors a year ago after placing 36th. Teammate
Melanie Arvis placed 32nd (23:01.1) to score her second-straight all-region honor, while
Danielle Van Grinsven (62nd, 23:46.6) and
Abigaiil Poehlman (100th, 24:29.8) recorded top-100 finishes.
St. Norbert also had four top-100 finishers -
Kayla Wesaw (64th, 23:51.8),
Camdyn Guevara-Derber (83rd, 24:11.6),
Kera Riley (84th, 24:12.7), and
Mollie Madsen (97th, 24:24.3).
Concordia Wisconsin was the top-finishing NACC team, placing 14th with 331 points. St. Norbert finished 19th (430), MSOE placed 27th (781), and Wisconsin Lutheran finished 28th (804). Edgewood competed but did not qualify for a team score.
UW-La Crosse won the regional with 45 points, just ahead of Carleton (71), UW-Eau Claire (123), and St. Olaf (184). Carleton's Hannah Preisser won the individual title for the second year in a row with a time of 21:40.2.
Ahrens Qualifies for Nationals
By finishing as one of the top seven runners at their regional not competing for a regional champion team, Ahrens automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 22.
Shetty, Fields, and Lubner have outside chances of qualifying for the national meet. For Shetty to be selected, a total of five Midwest Region programs to be selected. For Fields and Lubner, the top seven squads from their respective regionals would need to be selected.
The championships will be held at the Roger Milliken Research Park in Spartansburg, South Carolina. The full field of 32 teams and 70 individuals per gender will be unveiled Sunday at NCAA.com.