PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Fifteen American Athletic Conference cross country runners finished in the top 25 of their respective NCAA Regional races to earn U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors on Friday. Four athletes representing three of the conferences’ 12 schools had top-10 finishes and earned automatic bids to next Saturday’s NCAA Championships. The conference’s teams and top-25 individual finishers will find out Saturday, November 10 if they earned an at-large bid to the national championship.
The American was represented in seven of the nine NCAA Cross Country Regionals across the nation. The
top two teams from each region earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championship in Madison Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 17. Thirteen teams will receive at-large bids. Forty individuals, including the top-four runners from each regional outside the already-qualifying teams, along with two individual at-large selections from the national pool, will also punch tickets for a shot at a national title. The NCAA will announce the full field for the 2018 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET during the inaugural NCAA Cross Country Selection Show on
NCAA.com.
This year’s conference women’s individual champion, Winny Koskei of Wichita State, turned in the best finish among all athletes (men or women) across the conference. She finished third at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Ill., with a personal-best time of 20:23.0 in the 6k race. With less than 1,000 meters to go, she made her final kick and moved into the top-five. Koskei becomes the first Shocker to reach the NCAA Championships since 2012. Koskei and Rebekah Topham (17th place) each earned All-Region honors.
Two-time defending conference men’s individual champion Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane punched his third-straight ticket to the NCAA Championship after finishing fourth overall at the NCAA South Central Regional at Texas A&M. The 10K race, held at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course, was the site of Rotich's regional victory last year as well as a regular-season race this season that Rotich won. He climbed up four places over the final 7.7k-mark stretch, clocking a time of 31:41.7.
Tulsa, the conference’s five-time defending men’s champion, finished third in Peoria, Ill., at the Midwest Regional for a second-consecutive year. The Golden Hurricane, which entered the race ranked third in the Midwest, has finished in the top five in the Midwest Region for the past eight seasons. Peter Lynch and Scott Beattie earned All-Region honors. Lynch led the Hurricane men with a ninth-place finish in the 10K race with a time of 31:08.2, while Beattie crossed the line in 17th place at 31:20.4. The women also earned a top-10 finish, taking eighth place with Caitlin Klopfer earning an All-Region nod after placing 13th with her personal-best 6k time of 20:55.8.
Hannah Miller and Svenja Ojstersek earned spots in the NCAA Championship after their performance at the South Central Regional. Miller, the league’s 2017 individual champion, punched her third-straight ticket to the NCAA Championship, coming in fifth place with a time of 20:36.6—her sixth top-five finish in as many races on the 2018 season. Miller earned her third-career All-Region honor. Ojstersek crossed the line in eighth place to join Miller in booking a trip to Madison, Wis. Ojstersek ran a 20:51.8, only 31 seconds behind the leader. With a top-25 finish, senior Anneke Grogan also earned an All-Region accolade. As a team, the Mustangs finished sixth place among the 22 competing teams.
Temple’s men’s and women’s teams each shined in State College, Pa. The Owls’ women’s team earned a program-high fourth-place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. Two of their women runners earned All-Region honors for the first time in history, with Grace Moore and Kira Von Ehren each placing in the top 25. Moore placed 21st overall in 21:44.0, while Von Ehren placed 22nd in 21:45.0 to help their squad improve four spots from their No. 8 regional ranking.
The Owls’ men’s team also earned their highest finish in program history, placing sixth overall to best their seventh place finish in 2017. Kristian Jensen conquered the 10k course in 13th place with a time of 31:34 to earn All-Region recognition. Zach Seiger continued to shine during his stand-out junior season, finishing 22nd overall with a time of 31:52.0 for a spot on the All-Region list. Temple’s men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to compete at the IC4A and ECAC Championships next weekend.
UConn’s Patrick Begley earned All-Region honors for the second-straight year to lead the Huskies in the Northeast Regional. He improved on his 21st place finish at last year's race, finishing in 33:16.1. Cincinnati battled a loaded Great Lakes Regional field in Terre Haute, Ind., which included five nationally ranked programs in each race. After finishing third place at The American Championship, Aaron Bienenfeld ran for a 12th-place finish in the men’s race (31:21.9) to collect All-Region honors for the Bearcats.
Three conference teams traveled to Tallahassee, Fla. and wrapped up their 2018 seasons at the NCAA South Regional. Freshman Alivia Bienz led the women’s USF team, while Evan Babatz was the first runner for the Bulls’ men squad to cross the line. Matthew Kamph and Paige Sandwell paced Memphis, while Victoria Jung led UCF’s team.
Houston and ECU also concluded their 2018 slates in regional action. Houston’s Britani Gonzales and Devin Vallejo-Bannister were the team’s top finishers competing in the South Central Regional. ECU ran in the Southeast Regional race, as the Pirates were led by All-Conference runners Nick Ciaccia and Anna Bristle.
Along with several conference teams, each of The American’s top-25 individual regional finishers who haven’t already earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships will await word from the NCAA to see if they have been selected to race in the national championship.