EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s and women’s cross country teams return to the course at Angel Mounds on Friday for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The day begins at 10 AM with the women’s 6k, followed by the men’s 10k at 11 AM. Live results can be found here.
Evansville welcomes 35 schools from four states (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) and nine different conferences competing Friday:
Conference Break Down (9 conferences represented)
Atlantic Coast (1)
Atlantic-10 (1)
Big East (3)
Big 10 (6)
Big 12 (1)
Horizon (9)
Mid-American (10)
Missouri Valley (3)
Ohio Valley (1)
Last Time Out
Evansville junior Samuel Lea (Worcester, United Kingdom/Worcester Sixth Form College) became the first Purple Aces men’s runner since 2006 to earn All-Conference honors, finishing eighth in the 8k at the MVC Championships on October 31. James Cruse (Melbourne, Australia) also made history, finishing 21st for the top finish of all freshmen to earn Evansville’s first-ever MVC Freshman of the Year award.
The sixth place finish by the men’s team is the best finish by an Evansville men’s squad since 2011, when the Aces finished sixth of nine teams. The Purple Aces women’s team placed 10th, led by freshman Kyleigh Wolf (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North), who posted the 11th-best 6k time in program history at 22:23.2.
Lea landed 12th on the program’s all-time 8k list with his time of 24:41.65 to pace the Aces. Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain/Colegio Claret) turned in a strong performance, finishing 17th overall and second on the team with a time of 25:06.32, followed by Cruse in 21st overall at 25:14.34. Woody Burrell (Cedarburg, Wis./Cedarburg) also came in with a time under 26 minutes, placing 51st with a time of 25:55.37.
On the women’s side, Wolf led the way, placing 41st and notching a personal best time. Avery Stephens (Newburgh, Ind./Castle) finished second for the Purple Aces, placing 50th and coming up one second short of a personal best. Josie Lynch (Brazil, Ind./Northview) and Veronica Wilgocki (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) posted personal-bests with times of 23:51.56 and 25:09.51, respectively.
