Liz Wamsley sprints down the chute at the NCAA DII Midwest Regional Championships. Courtesy | Libby Price

Hillsdale senior Liz Wamsley won the NCAA DII Midwest Regional Championships last weekend, where the Chargers took 17th as a team.

The Chargers raced at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana, Nov. 6.

An All-American in cross-country and track and field, Wamsley ran at the front of the pack with Grand Valley State University’s Klaudia O’Malley — who finished third in the nation in 2022 — before Wamsley sprinted past O’Malley in the last leg of the race. 

“I wasn’t expecting I would get first,” Wamsley said. “I knew that O’Malley was going to be the fastest person in that race, so when we started, I tried to tuck in behind her. We were a tight pack for about two miles.”

Wamsley said she had wondered if O’Malley was fading slightly in the last mile and decided she might as well go for the victory then.

“In the last little stretch, I passed her and just sprinted to the end,” Wamsley said. “I felt the worst at that point because I knew I couldn’t pick it up another gear, so the whole time I’m like, ‘I hope this is enough because this is all I have left.’”

Wamsley said it is bad form for runners to look behind them because it slows them down and signals a lack of confidence to competitors, so she was unsure if O’Malley was going to pass her. 

“It’s definitely fun to have races like that,” Wamsley said. “You’re battling it out the whole way and putting everything you possibly can into the race. I had to earn that race.”

Wamsley became Hillsdale’s first cross-country regional champion since 2015, and she qualified for the 2023 NCAA DII National Championship, which will take place in Joplin, Missouri, Nov. 18. 

“At this point, I’m just competing to the best of my ability just to see how high up I can place in nationals,” Wamlsey said. 

National meet competitors will travel to Missouri several days two to three days before the race to acclimate themselves before competing for the national title and All-American honors.

“On Saturday morning, it’s just the same thing as regionals,” Wamsley said. “It’s just another 6k race. It’s not even necessarily a much larger field size, but it’s just so much more competitive.”

Wamsley ran the regionals 6K in 20:04.50, a personal best, as did many of her teammates.

Freshman Savannah Fraley finished in 41st place with a personal best time of 21:39.3. 

“I got sucked out a little bit at the beginning, but I didn’t completely die at regionals,” Fraley said. “I wasn’t necessarily the kicking warrior at the finish, but I improved by over a minute, so I guess that’s kicking enough.”

Senior Vera Thompson finished in 120th place in 23:07.3, freshman Megan Roberts finished in 143rd place with a personal best time of 23:33.0, and freshman Anna Stirton finished in 144th place with a personal best of 23:33.6.

Junior Brynn Edison finished in 158th place in 23:58.3, and freshman Eleanor Clark finished in 162nd place in 23:58.8, both personal bests. 

“It was a really fast course and good weather. It was just a really good day for our last race,” Roberts said. 

While Saturday concluded Hillsdale’s 2023 cross-country season, the Chargers are already looking forward to the track season after a 10-day break from running, according to Roberts. 

“It’s a bittersweet ending, especially for those girls who prefer cross-country,” Roberts said. “But we’ll be together for all of next semester too. We’ve bonded through all of the hardest parts of cross-country and are always there for each other no matter what happens after we cross that finish line.”