JOPLIN, MO – The postseason for University of Mary men's and women's cross country will continue tomorrow at the NCAA DII Central Region Championships. Missouri Southern State University will be hosting the meet at the Tom Rutledge XC Course.
The 6k women's race will be at 10:00 a.m. and the 10k men's race begins at 11:15 a.m. CT.
Results can be found here.
LAST TIME OUT
UMary competed at the NSIC Championships in Wayne, NE, on Oct. 24. The men's team placed 4
th out of 14 teams with
Caleb Hansen (6
th) and
Gideon Hammah (9
th) earning All-NSIC honors.
Raine Skjod (32
nd),
Nick Lind (41
st), and
Joseph Ringhand (57
th) were the other point scorers for UMary.
The women's team placed 5
th out of 16 teams at the conference meet.
Terez Wycklendt continued her strong senior campaign with a 5
th-place finish and All-NSIC honors for the first time.
Hannah Westin (24
th),
Ellyn Engels (26
th),
Amber Rosemeier (34
th), and
Giselle Jahner (38
th) rounded out the team scoring.
LAST TIME AT THE REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Central Region Championships were held at the same site, the Tom Rutledge XC Course, last season, and the men's team placed 16
th out of 31 teams.
Caleb Hansen led the way in 47
th.
The women's team had an excellent outing, placing 3
rd out of 31 teams behind
Alyssa Becker's individual victory.
Terez Wycklendt is the lone returning point scorer, placing 57
th at last year's meet.
OUTSTANDING SENIOR OF THE YEAR
Caleb Hansen was selected as the NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year at the NSIC Championships. He is a three-time All-NSIC runner in cross country and an NSIC All-Academic Team member.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Thanks to his 5
th place finish at the Jimmie Invitational,
Gideon Hammah was named the NSIC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week. The sophomore was the first Marauder since 2021 to receive the honor, doing so after his third consecutive top-5 finish to start the season.
ATHLETES TO WATCH
Sophomore
Gideon Hammah was named UMary's NSIC Athlete to Watch after an impressive freshman campaign. Hammah won the Marauders Open and placed 19
th at the NSIC Championships last year.
On the women's side,
Tori Stepka was named UMary's NSIC Athlete to Watch. Stepka spent her first season with the Marauders recovering from an injury and has never competed in cross country before. Head coach
Chris Lessard is confident in her development over the course of last season.
PRESEASON POLLS
The men's team was picked to finish 3
rd in the NSIC in the preseason coaches' poll. That is the best preseason position for UMary since 2022.
The women's team was also picked 3
rd in the NSIC preseason coaches' poll. The team also came in at 29
th in FloTrack's National Preseason Rankings and 16
th in the USTFCCCA's rankings.
#marauders#
