Midwest Regional Opens Titans' NCAA Postseason
UW-Oshkosh is among a 40-team field, including six nationally ranked squads, that will compete at Saturday's (Nov. 10) NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Midwest Regional in Colfax.
The 6,000-meter race, which features over 300 runners from schools located in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin, begins at 11:15 a.m. from the Whitetail Golf Course.
Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.), which placed third at the 2017 NCAA Championship held in Elsah, Ill., enters Saturday's meet ranked second and Wheaton College (Ill.) seventh in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Defending Midwest Regional champion UW-Eau Claire is ranked ninth nationally while University of Chicago (Ill.) lists 11th, UW-La Crosse 22nd and North Central College (Ill.) 29th. UW-Eau Claire was a second-place finisher at last year's national championship.
UW-Oshkosh has won 14 Midwest Regional titles, including seven in a row from 1994-2000. The Titans finished 12th out of 37 teams at last year's regional held in Rock Island, Ill., with 320 points.
The top two teams from Saturday's meet will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship, which will be hosted by UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 17 at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne. This will be the Titans fourth time hosting the national championship (1999, 2011 and 2015).
Sixteen other at-large bids will be awarded from the nation's eight total regions. The top seven individual finishers from each region not on one of the qualifying teams will also secure an invitation to the national championship.
UW-Eau Claire won last year's Midwest Regional with 59 points. The Blugolds were followed by second-place Washington University in St. Louis with 75 points, third-place UW-La Crosse with 109, Wheaton College fourth with 126 and University of Chicago fifth with 131.
UW-Oshkosh's lineup for Saturday's race is led by graduate student and first-year collegiate runner Evlyn Noone. Noone led the Titans with a sixth-place finish at the WIAC Championship held Oct. 27 in Colfax. She also placed second at the UW-Oshkosh Titan Fall Classic on Sept. 21 and seventh at the UW-Parkside Vic Godfrey Open on Sept. 8.
Junior Ashton Keene will be making her third consecutive Midwest Regional appearance for the Titans after finishing 32nd in 2017 and 48th in 2016. She was a 32nd-place finisher at last month's WIAC Championship.
A pair of Titans – sophomore Hannah Lohrenz and junior Amanda Van Den Plas – will be running at the Midwest Regional for the second straight year after placing 76th and 167th, respectively, in 2017. Lohrenz finished ninth and Van Den Plas 27th at this year's WIAC Championship.
UW-Oshkosh has three other runners making their inaugural Midwest Regional visit in junior Tayah Cunningham, sophomore Elizabeth Reddeman and freshman Alexis Reichardt. Reddeman led the trio with a 48th-place finish at the 2018 WIAC Championship.
Four of the top five finishers from last year's Midwest Regional return in 2018, including University of Chicago's Khia Kurtenbach who won titles each of the past two years. Kurtenbach is also the defending NCAA national champion.
Also returning from last year's regional are second-place Paige Lawler from Washington University in St. Louis, third-place Hannah Roeske from Wheaton College and fifth-place Sam Slattery from UW-Eau Claire.
2018 NCAA Division III Cross Country Midwest Regional Website
2018 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship Website
Written by Ally Gwidt, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information