KENOSHA, Wis. – Six Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) cross country teams finished in the top 10 during the 2023 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional at the Angel Mounds Cross Country Course in Evansville, Indiana, on Saturday, Nov. 4. 17 other GLVC programs competed in the 10,000-meter and 6,000-meter races.
The 12th-ranked Lewis men's cross country team (104 points) finished runner-up to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship. 26th-ranked Illinois Springfield (199) placed fifth, while Drury (267) landed in the ninth spot to finish out the top 10.
Missouri-St. Louis (449) finished 16th, followed by Indianapolis (515), Missouri S&T (544), Southwest Baptist (568), and Maryville (577) in 18th, 20th, 21st, and 23rd, respectively. Truman State (695) was next in 24th, while Rockhurst (772), McKendree (926), and Quincy (984) respectively rounded out the league contingent in 26th, 30th, and 31st.
On the women's side, No. 9-ranked Lewis (90 points) joined the men's team in earning an automatic bid with a third-place finish. Drury (225) and SBU (315) joined the Flyers in the top 10, placing sixth and 10th, respectively.
Outside of the top 10 was Truman (397) in 13th, followed by UIS (461) in 18th, UIndy (488) in 19th, Missouri S&T (615) in 20th, Maryville (676) in 22nd, UMSL (713) in 25th, Rockhurst (795) in 28th, and McKendree (975) in 29th.
The top-25 individual finishers were named All-Region honorees, and the GLVC had seven in that group on the men's side with four from Lewis, two from Illinois Springfield, and one from UMSL. GLVC Champion and Runner of the Year, UIS' Cortland Ross was the fastest Conference individual, finishing in third with a time of 31:01.97. UMSL's Benjamin VandenBrink crossed the line in 10th (31:11.94), followed by Lewis' Sean Ryan (31:13.23) in 11th and UIS' Noah McIntyre (31:14.33) in 13th. The Lewis trio of Charlie Wirth (31:15.58), Evan Horgan (31:20.89), and Daniel Arimi (31:26.93) finished 15th, 19th, and 23rd, respectively.
For the women, seven runners earned that distinction. The top finisher was GLVC Champion and Runner of the Year Hannah Smrcka of Lewis, who placed eighth with a time of 20:40.73, while S&T's Emma Puetz (20:57.05) and Lewis' Abbey Kozak (20:57.16) finished back-to-back at 13th and 14th, respectively. A pair of Flyers – Anna Kozak (21:00.81) and Caroline Pacer-Ryan (21:02.00) – crossed the line next at 17th and 19th, while Drury's Zoe Van Dijk (21:14.62) and Luz Olivera (21:15.49) respectively placed 22nd and 23rd to round out league All-Region representation.
The top-three team finishers automatically qualify for the the NCAA Championships, which will take place Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri, while the remaining schools will find out if they earned an at-large berth to the finals on Monday, Nov. 6 on NCAA.com.