On Nov. 6, the men’s and women’s cross country teams raced at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Southern Indiana University in Evansville, Indiana.
The men’s team finished second overall with 118 points and automatically advanced to the national championship, while the women placed fifth with 178 points and qualified for nationals after receiving an at-large bid from the NCAA.
The Flyer men had three runners earning All-Region honors by finishing top-25 in the 10k race. Sophomore Anthony Farmer placed 13th with a time of 30:51.1, followed by graduate students Dustin Macuiba in 18th with 31:02 and Garrett White in 21st with 31:06.5.
The women also had three All-Region performances with fifth year senior Kassady Learn placing 13th and clocking 21:26.6, sophomore Anna Kozak finishing 19th at 21:33.2, and fifth year senior Stephanie Jarvis in 25th place with a time of 21:40.3.
Head coach James Kearney looks forward to the upcoming weekend as he is excited to see what his athletes will be able to accomplish. “We can only run seven athletes from each gender, but if all seven finish in the top 40, they will be considered All-Americans,” said Kearney. “We have some kids that I think can front them [the competition] out on the right day, it is just a matter of how we execute and how we do things.”
Kearney mentioned the national meet at the beginning of the season because he had full confidence that it was an achievable goal for both teams. “On our first team meeting I was just like, ‘I think we can do this,’ we just have to be a little bit more hyper aware of what we are doing and why because each decision an athlete takes will affect him or her, yet also the rest of us,” said Kearney. “I think in our sport you have to be not only realistic with your goals, but you also must have some of those goals out there right away to kind of hold yourself accountable.”
The Flyers will finish their season by representing Lewis at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on Nov. 20 at the Abbey Course in Saint Leo, Florida.\
Photo Credit: Luis Chavez
