Gorilla cross-country had some strong successes this past weekend, as they competed in the NCAA Division II Central Regional meet. The women’s team came out as runners-up, securing a berth in the national championships, while the men’s team finished just outside the top three at fourth overall. The top three teams in the regional are given an automatic championship berth, so the men’s team will have to wait and see if they can secure an at-large bid.
“Unfortunately fell out of the top three positions for the automatic berth, but we’re very confident that they are going to get in that at-large berth. So, we are just moving forward with business as usual, getting ready for nationals now,” head coach Ben Barrows said.
Winona State secured the top spot on the women’s side, with a low score of 76 points. Pitt State finished second overall with a score of 113, while Nebraska Kearney finished with 116 points to make third overall.
Junior Paige Mullen paced the Pitt State women in their six-kilometer race in the NCAA-II Central Regional with a second-place finish in 20 minutes, 42.64 seconds. Redshirt junior Hannah Gibson finished fourth (21:00.81) and sophomore Lorna Rae Pierce placed sixth overall (21:11.78). All three runners garnered All-Region honors with their finishes. It was redshirt junior Kaci Singer (44th, 22:15.80) and redshirt sophomore Phoebe Fletcher (57th, 22:27.38) who rounded out Pitt State’s five scored positions.
“They’ve got a pretty good streak going here of finishing top three. Great tradition in the program of doing it, just continuing to find a way every year no matter what,” Barrows said.
On the men’s side, Northwest Missouri State took home the gold, scoring 72 points. Washburn and East Central took home second and third, respectively, while Pitt State finished out fourth with 118 points. There are ten at-large bids for the NCAA Championships, so the Gorillas will have to wait and see if their season continues.
Pitt State had three runners turn in All-Region performances Saturday: Redshirt junior Nathan Hinrichs paced the Gorillas in the 10-kilometer race, finishing fourth overall in 30 minutes, 26.40 seconds; Redshirt junior Dylan Sprecker placed sixth, (30:33.80); and redshirt senior Travis Sickles finished 12th (31:01.94). Redshirt junior Tyler Atkins (23rd, 31.24.47) and redshirt junior Jordan Kilonzo (74th, 32:49.32) rounded out the Gorillas five scored positions.
“Dylan Sprecker, Nathan Hinrichs, Travis Sickles, and Tyler Atkins, they have just been performing extremely well and extremely consistently all year long,” Barrows said.
The men’s team has been to the NCAA Championships the last four seasons, turning in a program-best seventh place finish last season. The women have made seven of the last eight championships, most recently posting a 19th place finish. The NCAA Division II championships will be hosted on Nov. 22, in Wisconsin.