The University of Toledo left East Lansing with both trophies. Toledo swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Cross Country Championships on Friday, Nov. 13, in East Lansing, Michigan, with Notre Dame finishing second in both races, FloTrack reported.
The sweep earns both Toledo programs automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, FloTrack reported. The top two teams in each race at every regional advance automatically, with a selection committee awarding at-large berths to fill each national field to 32 teams, according to FloTrack’s explanation of the qualifying system.
Toledo’s women produced the day’s most dominant performance, sweeping the top three individual places, FloTrack reported. Karina James won the 6K in 19:55.2, Purity Chepkirui followed in 19:55.3 and Dorcas Kiptanui finished third in 19:57.7. Toledo scored 31 points to Notre Dame’s 60, with Michigan third at 117 and Indiana fourth at 120, according to FloTrack.
The Rockets placed two more women in the top 10 scoring picture behind the lead trio: Melody Jebiwot was sixth in 20:12.8, FloTrack reported. Akron’s Mercy Jebitok finished fourth individually in 20:01.1 and her teammate Megan Hipple was seventh, while Bowling Green’s Rachael Hoover placed ninth in 20:29.8, according to FloTrack’s results.
The men’s race was tighter. Butler’s William Zegarski won the 10K in 29:55.0, finishing 12.2 seconds ahead of Toledo’s Patrick Kiprop, and Toledo’s Joad Martinho placed third in 30:09.4, FloTrack reported. Toledo scored 59 points to Notre Dame’s 66, while Michigan State finished third with 106 and Wisconsin fourth with 109, according to FloTrack.
Toledo’s men’s depth carried the team title: Eloshas Kipkirui was fifth in 30:16.6, Loann Brelivet 13th in 30:26.7 and Sibonelo Khumalo 36th in 30:56.1, FloTrack reported. Other Ohio finishers in the men’s top 50 included Akron’s Noah Nyageo, sixth in 30:18.2, and Titus Kirui, 23rd; Cincinnati’s Lucas Towne, 19th, and Isaac Schachleiter, 41st; Dayton’s Kamden Kramer, 43rd; Miami’s Ishak Mekideche, 45th; Ohio State’s Andrew Rohde, 48th; and Youngstown State’s Patrick Burgos, 50th, according to FloTrack.
On the women’s side, the rest of Ohio’s top-50 finishers included Bowling Green’s Lexi Panning (24th) and Maggie Foust (38th), Toledo’s own Laura Acuna (19th), Bella Earl (25th) and Lianna Surtz (31st), Youngstown State’s McKinley Fielding (21st), Erica Kaulen (49th) and Caleigh Richards (50th), Cincinnati’s Eloane Le Corre (34th) and Abby Sewell (35th), Miami’s Morgan Dick (42nd) and Ohio’s Ellie Greenwell (48th), FloTrack reported.
All nine Division I regionals ran on Friday, Nov. 13, with the Great Lakes meet hosted by Michigan State at Forest Akers, FloTrack reported. Runners who are not on a qualifying team can also advance individually — the first four top-25 finishers not on a team headed to nationals qualify automatically, with two more individuals added at-large, according to FloTrack.
For Toledo, the sweep also changes the math of the national meet. A team that wins its regional does not wait on the selection committee, does not watch other regionals for help and does not split its squad between qualifiers — both Rockets lineups travel to Terre Haute whole, with their scoring five in each race already proven on the same day against the same fields they beat in East Lansing, FloTrack reported. That is the advantage Notre Dame, second in both races, shares — and that every other program in the region, including Akron, Bowling Green and Ohio, must now seek through the at-large and individual routes FloTrack described.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from FloTrack’s results: both Toledo teams won the Great Lakes Regional and are in the NCAA Championships field automatically, and James, Chepkirui and Kiptanui gave the Rockets a 1-2-3 women’s finish no other program in the region matched. What comes with the at-large selections — which other Ohio individuals or teams join them in Terre Haute — is set by the selection committee’s full field announcement. Toledo’s fall at Savage Arena has already been a busy one, as NewsForce247 covered in our report on Saturday’s Blade Holiday Parade downtown, while the city’s budget fight continues in our story on the layoff notices that followed Issue 16’s failure.
What happens next is the national meet: the NCAA Cross Country Championships run Saturday, Nov. 21, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, airing on ESPNU, FloTrack reported. Toledo will race the best fields in the country with both of its teams intact — the reward for a regional Friday on which, in both races, nobody in the Great Lakes beat the Rockets.
Photo: MrJacon000, CC BY-SA