Demco, Lohrenz To Run At NCAA Championship
UW-Oshkosh's Alexandria Demco and Hannah Lohrenz are among 294 runners that will race at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Women's Cross Country Championship Saturday (Nov. 20) in Louisville, Ky.
The UW-Oshkosh duo earned two of 70 at-large berths into the national meet after their outstanding performance at last Saturday's (Nov. 13) Division III North Regional at the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax.
Demco and Lohrenz will compete Saturday in a 6,000-meter race that starts at 12 p.m. (EST) from E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.
Lohrenz, a senior, finished 185th at the 2019 Division III Championship held in Louisville, while Demco, a sophomore, is running at nationals for the first time. The 2020 Division III Championship, scheduled for Terre Haute, Ind., was not held due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Demco, a two-time Division III outdoor track & field All-American, has competed in five races for UW-Oshkosh this fall. She finished 10th at both the WIAC Championship and Division III North Regional while placing seventh at the Concordia University Wisconsin Ken Weidt Classic and 22nd at the Oberlin College (Ohio) Inter-Regional.
Lohrenz has participated in five races for the Titans this season as well. She ran to a first-place finish at the WIAC Championship while placing second at both the Concordia University Wisconsin Ken Weidt Classic and Oberlin College Inter-Regional and third at both the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational and Division III North Regional. Lohrenz earned Division III indoor track & field All-America honors in 2020.
In addition to Demco and Lohrenz, other at-large selections to the Division III Championship from the North Regional were awarded to Fiona Smith from the College of Saint Benedict (Minn.), Rachel Krouse from UW-Stevens Point, Maj Lis Helmer from The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.), Cristyn Oliver from Lawrence University and Emily Cunningham from UW-Stout.
Seven-member squads Carleton College (Minn.), St. Olaf College (Minn.), UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse will also represent the North Region in both the individual and team competition in Louisville.
The top 40 individual finishers at Saturday's Division III Championship will receive All-America accolades.
Last Saturday, Lohrenz and Demco ran to top 10 finishes as UW-Oshkosh placed fifth at the Division III North Regional.
WIAC champion UW-La Crosse captured the North Regional team title with 50 points. UW-Eau Claire finished second to the Eagles in the 32-team meet with 85 points while Carleton College (Minn.) placed third with 91, St. Olaf College (Minn.) fourth with 124 and UW-Oshkosh fifth with 178.
College of Saint Benedict's Smith outran 225 other runners in the race with her winning time of 20:57.24. Clara Mayfield of Carleton College finished second with her time of 21:24.45 while Lohrenz placed third, Emma Maloody of UW-La Crosse fourth in 22:20.67 and Carolyn Shult of UW-Eau Claire fifth in 22:21.88.
The 2020 Division III Championship was canceled, so 2019 champion Johns Hopkins University (Md.) will look to defend its team title on Saturday.
UW-Oshkosh, a four-time Division III team champion (1987, 1988, 1991 and 1996), owns 46 Division III All-America performances at the national women's cross country championship.