Junior Jennifer Comastri and senior Hope Jones posted top 20 finishes to lead No. 15 University of Southern Indiana Women’s Cross Country to a sixth-place finish out of 32 teams at the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Championships Saturday morning at Angel Mounds.
Comastri finished 13th out of 223 runners with a six-kilometer time of 21 minutes, 24.7 seconds, while Jones was 18th with a time of 21:36.3. Both runners earned All-Midwest Region honors with their top 25 finishes.
Freshman Presley Warren and junior Doriane Langlois finished 44th and 48th, respectively, to aid the Screaming Eagles, while freshmen Aubrey Swart and McKenna Cavanaugh were 72nd and 73rd. Senior Ashley Lawhorn rounded out the Eagles’ lineup with a 93rd-place finish.
USI’s sixth-place finish means the Eagles will have to wait until Monday’s announcement of at-large bids into the NCAA II National Championships, which are November 23 in Sacramento, California. This year’s NCAA II Midwest Region Championship field was arguably the strongest field in the nation with nine teams ranked inside the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Top 25.
No. 2 Grand Valley State University won the race with 40 points to punch its ticket to nationals, while No. 19 Michigan Tech University was second with 146 points to secure a trip to the national meet. No. 10 Walsh University (155 points) rounded out the automatic bids with a third-place finish, while No. 9 Hillsdale (156 points) and No. 17 Southwest Baptist University (183 points) will join USI (191) in waiting to see if their names are called on Monday.
GVSU’s Allie Ludge was the individual champion with a time of 20:34.7, while GLVC champion Elysia Burgos of Southwest Baptist was second with a time of 20:44.5.
