TOLEDO, OH - Eager to follow up on their successes from the MAC Championships, the University of Toledo men's and women's cross country teams take to the course Saturday at the Great Lakes Regional, hosted by Indiana University. The men's 10,000 meter race begins at noon and the women follow at 1:15 p.m. in a 6,000 meter race.
In order to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, the Rockets must finish as the first or second-best team. There are also 13 at-large spots, which are awarded based on regional placing and head-to-head competition throughout the season. The top four individuals in each region whose team did not earn a bid also qualify to compete.
The women, ranked No. 7 in the region, recorded their fifth top-two finish at the MACs this decade, headlined by a standout performance from Ari Fisher, who claimed the individual title. She joined Tuula Laitinen (2000) and Briana Shook (2001-02) as the third UT runner to win the individual title. Renata Volf (eighth) and Devyn Ramsay (ninth) were named to the All-MAC Second Team for their efforts in the Championships. Volf was also a second-team honoree in 2007.
"My expectation, first of all, is to avenge our loss to Miami at the MAC meet," said Kevin Hadsell, the director of the cross country and track programs. "On top of that, we need to put ourselves out there and give ourselves a chance at qualifying for the NCAA as a team. The field is tough but not like in years past. There are seven teams that could potentially put themselves in a position to qualify as a team. It is a meet that falls somewhere between the MAC meet and Pre-Nationals in terms of difficulty."
The men, meanwhile, just missed on matching their best-ever showing at the MAC Championships. The Rockets finished in seventh place, just one point out of sixth. Elisha Kipchumba led the Rockets as he finished 26th overall.
"The key to our success is to be 100 percent healthy, which we are," Hadsell said. "We were not firing on all cylinders at the MAC. The other key is to establish our top-5 in the Top-40 very early on and battle."
Toledo Women's Participants
Audra Brown Jr. Ayersville, OH
Ari Fisher So. Lebanon, OH
Devyn Ramsay Fr. Benzonia, MI
Karen Sovacool Jr. Lakewood, OH
Kristal Studer Fr. Bright, IN
Lindsay Toussant So. Minerva, OH
Renata Volf Sr. Krizevcli, Croatia
Toledo Men's Participants
Jonathan DeWitt So. Akron, OH
David Herrett So. Westerville, OH
Elisha Kipchumba Jr. Nairobi, Kenya
Barnabas Kiprotich So. Eldoret, Kenya
Elliot Livensparger So. West Unity, OH
Ken Samoei Sr. Kapsabet, Kenya
Chris Wall Jr. Centerville, OH
Past Success
On the NCAA Regional level since 2000, the Rockets as a team have finished higher than any other MAC program when they finished fourth in 2001. The Rockets made history in 2000 when they finished fifth and defeated the University of Michigan for the first time in school history in a year that the Wolverines were the Big Ten runners-up. In both 2001 and 2002, the Rockets lost tie-breakers to the University of Washington for an NCAA bid.
In 2002, Briana Shook won the NCAA Regional Cross Country Champion and was named the NCAA Regional Cross Country Athlete of the Year. Since 1999, the Rockets have had 12 NCAA All-Region selections, twice as many as any other MAC school over that same period. Additionally, the Rockets have sent six individuals to the NCAA Championships since 2000, more than the rest of the Mid-American Conference combined over the same period.
In 2000, freshman Tuula Laitinen ran to a second-place finish overall, becoming Toledo's first-ever qualifier for an NCAA championship meet. Laitinen ran the 6,000-meter course in 20:32.6, finishing 15 seconds back of the defending NCAA Cross Country Champion Erica Palmer of Wisconsin. Laitinen was only the second MAC freshman to ever qualify for the NCAA's and became the top MAC finisher ever to compete in a regional race with her second-place showing.
About the IU Cross Country Course
The IU Cross Country Course has hosted four NCAA Championships (1974, 1982, 1992, 1999). The four championships hosted by IU are more than any other school since 1974. The rolling, wooded course is noted as optimal for competitors and spectators alike. The IU course has played host to five men's Big Ten Championships (1969, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2006) and three women's conference meets (1987, 1996, 2006).
Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu
