The Hillsdale College women's cross country team put on a strong showing in Saturday's G-MAC Championship meet on Saturday morning at Hillcrest Golf Club in Findlay, Ohio, taking runner-up honors and extending a streak of finishing third or better in the G-MAC to six straight years.
The Chargers had three athletes earn first team All-G-MAC honors by finishing in the top 10, and scored 68 points, but couldn't overcome the depth of Cedarville, the sixth-ranked team in the nation in NCAA Division II, which won a repeat title with six in the top 10.
Nine of the top 10 runners came from either the Yellowjackets or Chargers, reflecting the dominance of the two squads in the race.
Sophomore Liz Wamsley took runner-up honors individually to lead the Chargers, finishing the 6K race in 21:27.9, while junior teammate Meg Scheske was close behind in sixth place in a time of 21:47.3, and fellow junior Gwynne Riley took eighth in 21:51.6 as well. All three athletes repeated as All-G-MAC honorees from the 2021 season, but Wamsley moved up from third to second in 2022, while Scheske and Riley both jumped from second-team honors to top 10 finishes and first-team honors.
Natalie Martinson took 25th for the Chargers in 23:07.7, making a big move late in the race and running a new personal best, while Vera Thompson placed 34th in 23:29.7 to round out Hillsdale's scoring runners.
Kayla Loescher took 42nd (23:44.8) as well for Hillsdale, and Katie Edison finished 71st (24:46.5).
The runner-up finish means the Chargers should be contenders to earn a ninth-straight berth to the NCAA National Championship race by placing well at the NCAA Midwest Regional two weeks from now, hosted in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Seven teams made the NCAA Championships out of the Midwest Regional last year, and the region should be a hotbed of additional qualifiers again this year, giving Hillsdale a chance to move on with a strong race.
Photo by Meredith Whipper, Findlay Athletics