Kansas Men Finish 12th, Women 13th at NCAA Midwest Regional Championship

Friday, November 15

Peoria, Ill

11:00 a.m

University of Kansas

NCAA Midwest Regional Championships

Kansas Men Finish 12th, Women 13th at NCAA Midwest Regional Championship

11/15/2024 2:39:00 PM | Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Women's 6k Results Men's 10k Results

Peoria, Ill. - The NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Peoria Illinois, featured strong performances from both Kansas' cross country teams.

In the women's 6K, freshman Dorcas Kiptanui led the way with a personal best of 20:30.99, finishing 26th. Emmaculate Jemutai and Delaney Fitzgerald also earned top-100 finishes, with Jemutai recording a time of 21:01.48 for 61st place. In the men's 10K, Tanner Talley paced the Jayhawks to a 12th-place team finish, with six out of seven runners securing top-100 finishes, including Talley's personal best time of 30:08.54.

The Midwest Regional Championship began with the women's 6K race, featuring a competitive field of over 230 runners. Representing Kansas were seven athletes: Dorcas Kiptanui, Emmaculate Jemutai, Delaney Fitzgerald, Tori Wingrove, Kaitlyn Swartz, Kenadi Krueger, and Laya Erickson

Freshman Kiptanui led the Jayhawks early, running alongside Big 12 competitors from Iowa State and Oklahoma State. She maintained consistency through the first two kilometers, clocking identical splits of 6:33.9 to hit the 3K mark in 10:05.4. Picking up the pace, she recorded a 3:19.0 split for the fourth kilometer, reaching 4K in 13:24.4, followed by a 3:37.6 split to hit the 5K mark at 17:02.0. Kiptanui closed strong with a final 3:28.99 split, finishing the 6K in a personal record of 20:30.99. Her impressive performance earned her a 26th-place finish in a competitive field of over 230 runners

Jemutai and Fitzgerald both secured top-100 finishes for Kansas, each achieving personal bests in the 6K. Jemutai, a sophomore from Kenya, recorded a time of 21:01.48 to claim 61st place, while Fitzgerald finished 87th, shaving nearly 20 seconds off her previous best.

Wingrove (21:43.53), Swartz (21:46.03), Krueger (21:50.71) and Erickson (22:21.90) rounded out the performances for the Kansas Jayhawks, contributing to the team's 13th-place finish out of 33 teams at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship.

The men's team took to the course next in the 10K race, with Tanner Talley, Cale Littrell, Sawyer Schmidt, Lenny Njoroge, Ryo Higuchi, Blake Wohler, and Quenton Walion representing the Jayhawks. Kansas secured a 12th-place finish out of 29 teams in the competitive field.

Talley would lead the pack of Jayhawks and deliver a strong 10K performance maintaining a consistent pace throughout. He reached the 3K mark at 8:58.6. Picking up the tempo, he clocked a 2:53.8 split for the fourth kilometer and reached the halfway point at 5K in 14:59.8. Talley maintained his pace through the 6K (17:56.9) and 8K (21:09.3) marks, including a standout 3:00.1 split in the ninth kilometer. He closed out the race with an impressive final split of 2:47.94, finishing with a personal best time of 30:08.54.

Six out of seven Jayhawks earned top-100 finishes out of nearly 200 participants. Littrell was the second Kansas runner to finish, clocking a 30:53.42 in the 10K for 69th place. Schmidt followed in 76th with a time of 31:01.92, and Njoroge was close behind in 79th with a 31:03.62 finish. Higuchi and Wohler also finished within the top-100, while Walion crossed the line with a time of 31:48.88.