An impressive streak continues for the Hillsdale College women's cross country team.
On Monday, the NCAA announced that the Chargers were one of 10 teams selected for at-large bids to compete in the upcoming Division II National Championship meet, held on Saturday, Nov. 20 at the Abbey Course in St. Leo, Florida. The Charger women will compete at 8:30 a.m. and race with a national title on the line, as well as potential All-American honors.
This is the eighth time in a row the Charger women have made the national meet as a team in cross country, continuing a streak that stretches back to the 2013 season. During that stretch, the Chargers were the national runner-up once, in 2014, and took third in 2015, while also earning 12 All-American honors.
Hillsdale took seventh in this past Saturday's Midwest Regional, four spots out of automatic qualifying, but advanced as an at-large bid thanks to the depth and overall strength of the Midwest region as a whole. All six teams who finished ahead of the Chargers on Saturday were ranked in the top 25 in the nation in the final USTFCCCA, and Hillsdale beat two more top 30-ranked teams in the event, putting them in position to earn the at-large spot.
The Chargers will be led by freshman Liz Wamsley, who has had an excellent campaign in her second year with Hillsdale (she did not use up eligibility in her first season last year due to the Covid-19 waiver). The St. Louis, Missouri native took third individually at the G-MAC Championships on Oct. 23 and placed seventh in the Midwest Regional on Saturday with a personal-best time on 21:09.1, the best finish by a Charger in the regional since All-American Arena Lewis took fifth in 2018. Now, Wamsley gets to test herself against some of the best runners in the country.
Sophomore Meg Scheske and Gwynne Riley each also earned All-G-MAC honors for the Chargers on Oct. 23 and will be aiming for strong results as well on Nov. 20.
You can find the full NCAA press release announcing the national meet qualifiers here. On Nov. 20, you can also follow along with the event with a live webstream of the championships on www.NCAA.com from 8:30 a.m. Eastern until the conclusion of the awards ceremony.
Photo by Elizabeth Randolph, USI Photography & Multimedia