COLUMBIA, Mo. – After finishes of third on the men's side and fourth on the women's, the Illinois State cross country squads take to Missouri to take on the field at the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional.
The women's 6,000-meter race begins at 11:00 a.m. (CT), while the men's 8,000-meter race goes off an hour later at noon. The top two finishers in both the men's and women's races earn automatic berths to the NCAA Championship.Â
THE FIELD
This season there will be a 36 schools competing in the women's cross country championship, and 32 on the men's including Bradley (M/W), Chicago State (M/W), Creighton (M/W), DePaul (M/W), Drake (M/W), Eastern Illinois (M/W), Illinois (M/W), UIC (M/W), Iowa (M/W), Iowa State (M/W), Kansas (M/W), Kansas City (M/W), Kansas State (M/W), Loyola (M/W), Minnesota (M/W), Missouri (M/W), Missouri State (W), Nebraska (M/W), North Dakota (M/W), North Dakota State (M/W), Northern Illinois (W), Northern Iowa (M/W), Northwestern (W), Oklahoma (M/W), #4 Oklahoma State (M/W), Omaha (W), Oral Roberts (M/W), Saint Louis (M/W), SEMO (M/W), SIUE (M/W), South Dakota (M/W), South Dakota State (M/W), Southern Illinois (M/W), Tulsa (M/W), Western Illinois (M/W), and Wichita State (M/W). Of these teams, three are ranked on the men's side, featuring #4 Oklahoma State, #6 Tulsa, #27 Iowa State, and two ranked squads on the women's portion, including #3 Oklahoma State and #30 Northwestern.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois State freshman Mathis Chavand was named the MVC Freshman of the Year while earning First Team All-MVC honors, as Baptiste Tardiveau and Zack Loomis each were named to the All-MVC Honorable Mention. On the women's side Ailey Mitchell earned First Team All-MVC honors while Rachel Hickey was named honorable mention All-MVC.
Leading the way for the ISU men was Chavand who took ninth in a time of 24:52.6 while Tardiveau placed 13th in a time of 24:58.1 as Loomis placed 15th in 24:59.6. For Chavand and Loomis it was their third consecutive race sub-25 minutes, while Tardiveau has raced four times this season – each under 25 minutes.
Tyler Klouda placed 23rd in a time of 25:08.9, while Charlie Wetzel rounded out the five scoring Redbirds in the field by placing 26th in a time of 25:11.8. Between Chavand and Wetzel, the gap between the first and last scorer was a remarkable 19 seconds – the narrowest such gap in the field over the 8,000 meters.
On the women's side Mitchell paved the way by placing eighth in a time of 21:37.8, her lowest time of the season and just off her personal best set at the MVC Championships a season ago in which she also earned First Team All-MVC honors. Hickey earned the fifth cross country All-MVC honor of her career by placing 14th overall for the second consecutive season (including the CoVID season that did not use a season of eligibility). She closes her ISU MVC Championship career with a pair of eighth place finishes, a 12th place finish, and two 14th place finishes.
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – WOMEN
Mackenzie Brownrigg, Maddi Exline, Claire Fuhlhage, Jenna Gruber, Ashley Heagy, Rachel Hickey, Caroline Meyers, Ailey Mitchell, Mattison Plummer, Maggie Reed, Vivianna Sanfilippo, Lauren Schulze, Kaitlin Skeate, and Kendy Ummel.
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – MEN
Yusuf Baig, Mathis Chavand, Julian Head, Tyler Klouda, Zack Loomis, Jeff Luka, Charles Murphy, Connor Murphy, Tyler Polak, Harris Porter, Garrett Slack, Baptiste Tardiveau, Charlie Wetzel, and Jordan Wood.
FOLLOW LIVE
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