Men Finish Third, Women 11th At NCAA Midwest Regionals
Nov. 12, 2005
IOWA CITY, Iowa –
The University of Kansas men’s and women’s cross country teams finished third and 11th, respectively, at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship on Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The men’s team narrowly missed an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship meet next Monday in Terre Haute, Ind. The team’s third place result was its best regional outcome since finishing first in 1994.
“The men ran a good race today, but not a great race,” Head coach Stanley Redwine commented. “We were hoping to qualify automatically, but now we’ll just have to rely on the at-large process.”
Five KU men’s runners garnered all-region honors by finishing in the top 25 in the team’s first 10k race of the season. Sophomore Paul Hefferon, who finished eighth overall in a time of 31:10, led the Jayhawks. He was closely followed by two-time Big 12 champion Benson Chesang, who finished 11th in a time of 31:17. Sophomore Colby Wissel (15th, 31:25), junior Tyler Kelly (18th, 31:29) and junior Erik Sloan (22nd, 31:41) were the other Kansas all-region honorees.
Oklahoma State finished first overall with 49 points. Iowa finished second with 72 points, just two points ahead of Kansas.
On the women’s side, sophomore Lisa Morrisey led the Jayhawks to an 11th place finish. The Ottawa, Kan., native finished the 6k race 43rd overall in a time of 22:36. The 11th place team finish was an improvement on last year’s 16th place result at the same meet.
“We had some injuries that hurt us a bit today,” Coach Redwine added. “Our goal was to finish in the top 10, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
Junior Laura Major finished second on the team and 51st overall in a time of 22:45. She was followed by senior Angela Pichardo (76th, 23:22), sophomore Alicia McGregor (82nd, 23:29) and sophomore Hayley Harbert (88th, 23:39).
Coach Redwine and the men’s team will now wait to hear from the NCAA track and field subcommittee as to whether or not they will be one of the 13 teams selected for an at-large championship bid. The announcement will come on Sunday, Nov. 13.
“I think our chances are strong that we’ll qualify,” said Coach Redwine. “We helped ourselves by performing well in the season’s earlier meets.”
The NCAA Championship, hosted by Indiana State, is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 21, in Terre Haute, Ind.
