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Fresh off their first MAC Championship since 2002, the University of Toledo cross country teams will try to keep their momentum going as they head to Rochester, MI for the Great Lakes Regional Championships on Saturday. 

The top two teams in both the men's and women's race will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Terra Haute, IN. Should the Rockets earn one of the top spots, it would be the first time in program history for Toledo to qualify as a 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. 

Last season, junior Ari Fisher finished ninth overall, earning all-region honors and qualifying as the lone representative for Toledo at the national meet. At the MAC Championships on Oct. 30, Fisher became just the fourth woman in MAC history to repeat as the individual champion. Her first-place finish, along with a strong showing from the other eight Rocket runners - all nine runners finished in the top-30; Megan Wright (First-Team All-MAC), Emma Kertesz (Second-Team All-MAC), Devyn Ramsay (Second-Team All-MAC) - helped lead the Toledo women to their first MAC Championship since 2002. The Rockets, currently ranked No. 3 in the region, have been progressively improving all season and are in a great position to become the first MAC team to win the region.

“Winning the MAC meet was one of our immediate goals, and it was a great experience, but that was then and this is now,” said Head Coach Kevin Hadsell. “Emotionally, in order to keep the momentum going you just have to get into your normal routine, and we did that. With both the men's and the women's team, we're heading into this weekend extremely confident and on an incredibly high note emotionally. Physically we're really ready to make another jump.” 

The men's team also comes off a strong MAC performance in which they had three runners - Jonathan DeWitt, Elisha Kipchumba and Nick Thomas - all earn all-MAC honors, the most of any other MAC school. The team finished seventh overall, but were just one point out of sixth, just 16 points out of fifth and set a school record for the fewest points ever scored at the MAC Championships (123).

Both teams will face tough competition, including many of the MAC teams they competed against in the conference championships. The women will look to top their sixth-place finish from last year, while the drastically-improved men's team hopes to improve upon their 18th place mark. 

“Going into this weekend, I feel like we're in a position where we can challenge to win the region,” said Hadsell. “We're lining up our best seven runners and they're all fit and healthy. I know that we're a better team than we were earlier in the year, and if we run the way we did at the MAC meet - and I think we can even do better - we're going to put ourselves in a position to win, and that's our goal.” 

The women's 6K race will start at noon, while the men's 10K race will begin at 1:15 p.m.