ROCHESTER, MI - The No. 30 Toledo women's cross country team received a solid third-place finish from 2010 MAC Champion Ari Fisher, but were unable to supplant No. 16 Michigan State and No. 18 Michigan for the top two spots at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship. The team finished in a program-best third place, the highest for a MAC school since 1995.
Fisher crossed third in a time of 20:32.4, just 18 seconds behind the overall champion from Michigan State. With the third place finish, Fisher earns All-Region honors for the second-straight year and a berth in the NCAA Championship meet.
"Ari ran a tough race," said Head Coach Kevin Hadsell. "She does not have a lot of foot speed so she tried to press the pace from the beginning and it was a great battle. This will set her up well heading into the NCAAs to be battling in the top pack."
Both Michigan and Michigan State earn automatic team bids to the national meet, but the Rockets still have a chance to earn one of the remaining at-large team slots in order to complete their bid for the program's first team berth in the NCAA meet. Since the NCAA meet was set up with 31 teams and no automatic bids out of the conferences, only three other MAC schools have ever qualified for the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships. Should Toledo be awarded a bid, they will be just the fourth MAC school to do so and the first since 2002.
"Team bids will be announced Sunday at 7:00 p.m., but we have two wins over two automatic teams and that will be enough for us," said Hadsell. "We are excited to be preparing for our first-ever bid to the NCAAs."
Rounding out the top-five for the Rockets in the 6K race were Emma Kertesz in 19th (21:12.2), who also earned all-region honors, Megan Wright in 33rd (21:39.9), Audra Brown in 36th (21:41.4) and Devyn Ramsay in 39th (21:42.9). Also racing for Toledo were Megan Vogelsong in 63rd (22:06.3) and Kristal Studer in 73rd (22:14.4).
"The team ran tough," Hadsell said. "It was a tough course and we did not get out very well, but we moved up over the course of the race and the last 1000-meters was the difference. Emma Kertesz was the hero with her 19th-place finish!"
The men's team finished 21st, led by junior captain Jonathan DeWitt, who finished 74th (32:05.8) in the 10K race. Following DeWitt were Elisha Kipchumba in 81th (32:15.3), Barnabas Kiprotich in 105th (32:42.0), Nick Thomas in 121st (32:54.7) and Ricky Adamson in 160th (33:53.1) to round out the top five. Also racing were Jacob Barnes in 165th (34:04.8) and Mike Smith in 166th (34:06.2).
Check back with UTRockets.com on Sunday to find out if Toledo will earn their first team bid to the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships.
