Titans Take Seventh Place At Midwest Regional

Ashton Keene finished 17th and Hannah Lohrenz 19th as UW-Oshkosh finished seventh at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Midwest Regional it hosted Saturday (Nov. 16) at the Lake Breeze Golf in Winneconne.

Hosting the regional for the 11th time, UW-Oshkosh scored 245 points to finish seventh among the 35 competing teams. The Titans placed 10th at last year's Midwest Regional with 306 points.

Defending national champion Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) won its second straight and 10th overall Midwest Regional title with 37 points. The Bears were followed in the top five listings by second-place University of Chicago (Ill.) with 66 points, third-place UW-La Crosse with 116, fourth-place UW-Eau Claire with 120 and fifth-place Wheaton College (Ill.) with 167.

Rounding out the top 10 teams in the standings were sixth-place North Central College (Ill.) with 174 points, seventh-place UW-Oshkosh, eighth-place Carroll University with 275, ninth-place Elmhurst College (Ill.) with 277 and 10th-place UW-Whitewater with 353.

Washington University in St. Louis entered the meet ranked second in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association while University of Chicago ranked seventh, UW-Eau Claire 11th, UW-La Crosse 15th and Wheaton College 29th.

Individually, Keene and Lohrenz paced UW-Oshkosh in the 6,000-meter race with their top 20 finishes. Keene, a senior, placed 17th among the meet's 257 runners with her time of 22:51 while Lohrenz, a junior, finished 19th in 22:52. Lohrenz finished 50th and Keene 88th at last year's Midwest Regional held in Colfax.

Other Titans finishing in the top 65 positions were Amanda Van Den Plas and Meygan Benzing. Van Den Plas placed 57th with her time of 23:48 while Benzing, a freshman, finished 65th in 23:56.

UW-Oshkosh's competitors for the meet were completed with the runs of Alexandria Demco, Tayah Cunningham and Breanna Van Den Plas. Demco, a freshman, finished 87th with a time of 24:17 while Cunningham placed 97th in 24:23 and Van Den Plas 141st in 25:23.

Defending national champion Paige Lawler of Washington University in St. Louis won Saturday's race with her time of 21:53. Lawler was the second-place finisher at last year's Midwest Regional.

Finishing behind Lawler on Saturday were second-place Lexie Tremble of UW-Eau Claire in 22:14, third-place Sophie Elgamal of University of Chicago in 22:14, Sophie Watterson of Washington University in St. Louis in 22:25 and fifth-place Aryn Embretson of Wheaton College in 22:26.

The top two teams from Saturday's meet, Washington University in St. Louis and University of Chicago, earned automatic berths to the NCAA Division III Championship that will be held Nov. 23 in Louisville, Ky. Sixteen other teams from the nation's eight total regions will be awarded at-large bids on Sunday (Nov. 17). After the at-large bids have been awarded, the top seven individual finishers from each region, not on one of the qualifying teams, will also earn an invitation to the national championship.

2019 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships Program

2019 NCAA Division III Cross Country Midwest Regional Website

Written by Sydney Szalinski, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information