Jayhawk Men Third at NCAA Cross Country Midwest Regional

STILLWATER, Okla. – The Kansas men’s and women’s cross country teams continued the postseason portion of their 2019 seasons Friday, November 15, as they competed in the NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Championship at the newly renovated OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and hosted by Oklahoma State University.

The women’s 6K got competition started at 10:30 a.m., followed by the men’s 10K at 11:30 a.m. No. 22 Illinois claimed the women’s championship and will be joined by runner-up Tulsa (who is receiving votes in the national polls) as the automatic qualifying teams to next week’s NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. Kansas’ women finished in 17th place overall as a team.

On the men’s side, No. 7 Tulsa took top team honors, followed by the No. 5-ranked and Big 12 Champion Iowa State Cyclones, to qualify for the national meet automatically. The Jayhawks of Kansas ran to a third-place team finish and now await their National Championships fate, to be announced tomorrow by the NCAA. It marked the men’s highest finish at a Regional meet since 2006, when the team placed second overall to qualify for the national meet, where they rounded out the year with a 20th-place finish.

"A great team effort, total team effort! We placed as well as we possibly could have. We came in ranked fourth (in the region) and finished third in a really tough field. The top-two teams got automatic bids to the NCAA (Championships) and we'll have to find out tomorrow if we made it."

Stanley Redwine, Kansas cross country head coach

Reminiscent of the Big 12 Conference Championships two weeks ago, Iowa State Cyclones swept the individual titles as junior Cailie Logue won the women’s 6K in 20:20.6 and senior teammate Edwin Kurgat finished first in the men’s 10K with his time of 30:38.3.

The top-25 finishers in each race earned All-Region honors, including three men from KU: senior Dylan Hodgson (14th place, 31:14.3), junior Ben Butler (20th place, 31:19.7) and freshman Chandler Gibbens, who finished 21st in 31:26.2. All three Jayhawks had the best finishes at a Regional Meet since 2015, when Evan Landes placed ninth overall.

Rounding out the Jayhawk men’s placings in Stillwater today were:
27. Michael Melgares, 31:35.7
69. George Letner, 32:23.8
94. Jake Ralston, 32:49.0
114. John Luder, 33:10.8

"It was an outstanding meet for everyone, but Dylan Hodgson really did well, placing 14th. We are also excited to have three (men) place in the top-25 to make the All-Region Team. I'm really proud of our guys and their effort. "

Coach Redwine

For the women’s team, Kansas’ competitors and their finishes were as follows:
54. Lona Latema, 22:00.5
85. Catherine Liggett, 22:20.4
89. Riley Cooney, 22:24.5
92. Cameron Gueldner, 22:26.8
132. Sarah Scott, 23:00.3
188. Alexys Barton, 24:11.0
222. Kalea Chu, 25:21.3

"Good job by freshman Lona Latema -- she ran well in a big meet. Our team place wasn't good, but we have some of our key runners injured and not (competing) at 100%. The meet was an opportunity for some of the other runners to step up."

Coach Redwine

UP NEXT
The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee will announce the automatic teams, at-large teams and individual men and women qualifiers to the 2019 DI cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 16. The selection show begins at 5 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.

Should Kansas men’s cross country be selected to compete at the NCAA Championships, they will run on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. Start times on Championship Saturday include the women’s 6K at 10:15 a.m. (CT) while the men will follow at approximately 11:15 a.m. (CT). For more information on the 2019 NCAA Championships, please visit: https://www.xctownusa.com/ncaa.