Cross country sprints toward nationals

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Cross country sprints toward nationals
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Senior Caleb Gatchell leads the pack at the Midwest Regional Championships on Saturday. (Photo: Evan Carter/ Hillsdale Collegian)

For just the second time since Hillsdale College fully joined NCAA Division-II in 1996, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams have qualified for the National Cross Country Championships in the same season.

On the men’s side, seniors Caleb Gatchell and Luke Daigneault both stepped up in a big way at the Midwest Region Cross Country Championships, running personal best times for 10 kilometers, helping the team to a fourth-place finish. The women’s team slipped into the final regional qualifying spot, with a number of the runners feeling banged-up, and freshman standout Arena Lewis leaving the race without finishing.

With warm temperatures and good course conditions, junior Tony Wondaal described Saturday’s regional meet in Evansville, Indiana as “a day well suited to people who prefer track.”

“We had a lot of experience and the seniors especially talked about seeing teams before them, especially their freshman year, come up short at the end,” Wondaal said. “We knew that we had worked hard enough over the past few years and become developed enough to have the talent to make it.”

The men posted their fastest average time at regionals in the last four years, with an average scoring time of 31:16, just under a minute faster than last year’s average, while bettering last year’s ninth place regional finish by five places.

Wondaal lead the men, who coming in close behind the race leaders for seventh place.Gatchell and senior Joe Newcomb both finished within 30 seconds of Wondaal for 11th and 16th places, respectively. Freshman standout Joe Humes and Daigneault rounded out the team’s top five coming in at 35th and 61st places. Humes was named the region’s Freshman of the Year for his efforts.

“The men ran really solid,” said Assistant Distance Coach Richard White. “Even from our No. 7 guy Jones, he ran an awesome race. That was his first 10K and looking back at it, I never thought he’d be a No. 7 guy for cross country, but it was kind of cool.”

When the men’s team heard they were going to nationals for the first time since 2004, some of the guys began jumping around in excitement.

“It was good to know that we were for sure in, even though we had a good day, pretty much across the board,” Wondaal said. “It was really special and then it got even more special once we knew the girls would be joining us.”

Junior Hannah McIntyre said that the regional meet was more difficult than the last two regional cross country meets where the Chargers placed second.

“It really was a total team effort this season,” said McIntyre, who was the first finisher on the team and fifth in the race.

With Lewis dropping out halfway through the six kilometer race, and a number of girls battling injury, multiple runners had to step up for the team to stay ahead of sixth-place Malone University.

White highlighted freshman Addison Rauch’s performance as the team’s fifth runner that day.

“There were some pretty good races and there were some mediocre races, but we were happy that we’re moving on,” White said. “Some things could have gone better for us.”

Senior Molly Oren was second on the team coming in 10th place overall, with sophomore Ally Eads and senior Meri Didier coming in at the team’s third and fourth spots.

While the top three runners on the women’s team either ran near- or faster-than the times they ran at the regional meet last year, they just couldn’t compete with last year’s team, finishing with an average scoring time of 21:43 which was 41 seconds slower than last year’s time.

“We were relieved when we heard we made nationals,” McIntyre said. “I was talking with Molly before about just being so happy this day has come and not having to answer any more questions about, ‘Are you going to make it’?”

In the last national coaches poll, which was taken before the regional meet, the men were ranked 17th in the nation and the women ranked 11th. The women had their best finish at the national championship in 2014 when they finished second. The men had their best national finish in 2004 when they were eighth. In 2000 the men and women both qualified for the national meet for the first time in Hillsdale’s time in the NCAA.

White said he didn’t want to share any goals about how he would like the men’s and women’s teams to finish at the national meet and, instead, said he wants the athletes to be confident in the work they put in this season.

“Our focus is running our absolute best race,” White said.

The NCAA Division-II National Championships will take place on Nov. 19 in Tampa Bay, Florida, at St. Leo University’s Abbey Course.