At Saturday's NCAA DII Midwest Regional, Liz Wamsley guaranteed herself a spot in Seattle for the NCAA DII National Championship meet.
If past history is any indication, there's a strong chance her teammates will be joining her for that race as well.
Wamsley ran an excellent race in tough conditions in Kenosha, Wisconsin to finish fourth overall in 21:36.31 in the 6K race and punch her ticket to Seattle as a top five individual finisher, no matter how the team race shook out for the Chargers.
The fourth place finish is the best by a female Hillsdale College runner in a NCAA Midwest Regional race since Hannah McIntyre took second overall at the 2017 NCAA Midwest Regional
Behind her, Hillsdale's scoring runners also did their jobs to lock up a sixth place finish, with 189 points. That's one spot better than the Chargers' seventh-place finish last year.
Junior Margaret Scheske also ran an excellent race to place in the top 10, finishing ninth in 21:48.24 to earn All-Midwest Region honors in cross country for the first time in her career.
While Hillsdale's two top 10 finishers were impressive, it was solid performances deeper in the pack that made the difference for the Chargers in the team race. Junior Gwynne Riley took 34th in 22:36.60 to give Hillsdale a solid third runner, while sophomore Kayla Loescher ran a big personal best in unfavorable weather to finish 67th overall in 23:04.22 and save Hillsdale big points against the competition. Junior Natalie Martinson also finished 77th (23:20.85) in one of the better 6K times of her career to help seal the deal for the Chargers as the fifth runner.
Kaitlyn Rust placed 128th (24:17.10) and Katie Edison placed 145th (24:39.63) as well for Hillsdale in the race.
While nothing is guaranteed, Hillsdale's sixth place finish in the region puts them in a good position to secure one of 10 at-large team berths to the NCAA DII Championships in Seattle, Washington on Dec. 2. Historically speaking, the Midwest Region has been a cross country powerhouse that has sent anywhere from 3 to 5 at-large teams consistently to the national meet over the past decade. Last year, Hillsdale was an at-large selection to the final after finishing seventh in the regional. At-large bids are determined by a set of criteria that can be found here, and will be announced to the public on Monday on NCAA.com.
If Hillsdale were to be selected as a team, it would be the ninth-straight season the Charger women's cross country team competed in the championship meet. Even if the Chargers aren't selected, Wamsley will represent Hillsdale individually as the top individual finisher not on an automatic qualifying team, and a top five finisher in the race as a whole.
Photo Courtesy of Findlay Athletics