North Regional Begins Titans’ NCAA Postseason
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Hannah Lohrenz highlights UW-Oshkosh's seven entrants for Saturday's (Nov. 13) National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Women's Cross Country North Regional at the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax.
The 6,000-meter race begins at 1 p.m. and is expected to feature nearly 300 runners from schools located in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The North Regional is being contested for the first time in 2021. Since the early 1980s teams in Minnesota competed at the Central Regional while squads in Wisconsin participated at the Midwest Regional.
Lohrenz, who ran to the individual title at the WIAC Championship held Oct. 30 at the Whitetail Golf Course, will make her fourth appearance at an NCAA regional on Saturday. She previously finished 19th at the Midwest Regional in 2019, 50th in 2018 and 76th in 2017. Lohrenz, a senior, qualified for the Division III Championship in 2019 and placed 185th among the meet's 280 runners.
UW-Oshkosh returns two other runners with regional experience in sophomores Meygan Benzing and Alexandria Demco. Both Titans ran at the 2019 Midwest Regional, with Benzing placing 65th and Demco 87th. Demco finished 10th and Benzing 47th at the most recent WIAC Championship.
Completing UW-Oshkosh's lineup for Saturday are freshmen Amelia Lehman and Cyna Madigan, sophomore Tricia Cich and junior Sydney Fricke. Madigan was a ninth-place finisher at the WIAC Championship two weekends ago.
Nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh is among 43 programs competing for the team title. The Titans, who won the Midwest Regional 14 times, enter Saturday's meet ranked 32nd in Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association after finishing third at the WIAC Championship.
Also competing in Saturday's regional are eighth-ranked and 2021 WIAC champion UW-La Crosse, 18th-ranked UW-Eau Claire, 19th-ranked St. Olaf College (Minn.), 20th-ranked Carleton College (Minn.) and 35th-ranked UW-Stevens Point.
The winning North Regional team will secure an automatic berth into the Division III Championship that will be held next Saturday (Nov. 20) at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The 32-team meet will also include nine other regional champions and 22 at-large selections.
Individually, the top seven finishers from each region not on one of the team qualifiers will also earn an invitation to the national championship.
The top 35 finishers at the Division III North Regional will receive all-region status.