Indiana men’s and women’s cross country continued their postseason at the Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday in Evansville, Indiana, with an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Hoosiers placed 19th and 11th, respectively.
The women’s race was the first of the day, and featured 35 teams, while 32 teams competed in the men’s race. All teams in both races were allowed seven runners. While Indiana brought seven women to Evansville, only six men competed for the Hoosiers. The top five places counted for each team’s final score.
In the women’s 6K race, all seven Hoosiers finished inside the top 100, with junior Lily Myers leading the pack in 33rd with a time of 20:57.34. The rest of the Hoosiers placed between spots 64 and 86, giving Indiana a final score of 329.
Freshman Ava Jarell, who was the Hoosiers' top performer at this year’s Big Ten Conference Championship, finished with a time of 21:46.05, which was Indiana’s fifth best time, and 84th overall.
The University of Notre Dame dominated the women’s race, with all seven Irish finishing 16th or better, including five runners inside the top 10. Freshman Amaya Aramini finished first, with a time of 19:37.97, and sophomore Mary Bonner Dalton finished second, with a time of 19:43.98. Notre Dame’s final score was an impressive 22, which was 73 points better than second place Wisconsin.
Despite being in 11th place halfway through the 10K race, the Indiana men finished 19th overall, dropping eight places in just five kilometers. The top finishing Hoosier was sophomore Dylon Nalley, whose time of 31:13.49 was good enough for 42nd place. Five of the six Hoosiers finished 99th or lower, granting Indiana a final score of 511.
The men’s race was much closer than the women’s, but Notre Dame took first place again. The Fighting Irish had a final score of 60 and were led by third-place finisher senior Ethan Coleman, whose time was 29:45.14. Second place Butler University featured graduate student Jesse Hamlin and redshirt junior William Zegarski. The Bulldogs finished with a score of 75.
University of Cincinnati freshman Nickson Kogei took first place in the men’s race. However, Cincinnati finished in sixth overall, with every other Bearcat finishing 38th or worse.
The top two teams from each race, Notre Dame and Wisconsin in the women’s race and Notre Dame and Butler in the men’s race, have earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Championship, which takes place Nov. 22. Both Indiana teams will hope to be selected as one of 14 at-large bids, which will be announced at 5 p.m. Saturday.
