GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota will compete this Friday at the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo. The women's 6K will begin the event at 11 a.m., while the men's 10K will follow at Noon.
Live results will be available here. The meet will also air on YouTube at the link here.
The UND women are looking to build off a third-place finish at the Summit League Championships, while the NoDak men will be looking to improve upon their fourth-place finish at the conference championships.
Three Fighting Hawks gained All-Summit League accolades two weeks ago. Luke Labatte earned first team status, taking third in the 8K with a PR time of 23:06.9. It marked the third time Labatte has gained all-conference accolades and his first time earning first team accolades. In the men's race, six UND runners (Labatte, Justin Jelaca, Zach Long, Alan Ash, Alec Nelson and Zak King) all posted PR's of at least 30 seconds.
Jadyn Keeler and McKenzie Burian also earned all-conference honors. Keeler picked up first-team accolades, finishing seventh in the 6K with a PR time of 20:34.1 and beating her previous best by over a minute. Burian, named Scholar of the Summit League Championships, gained second-team status, taking 14th in a personal-best time of 20:57.5.
Keeler has led the Fighting Hawks in every meet this season and it was her first time earning All-Summit League honors. Burian has gained second team all-conference status three times in her career. It also marked the second time the UND women placed in the top three of the league meet since joining the conference. The top four runners for the women (Keeler, Burian, Conny Wohlfahrt and Eliana Malnourie) all ran personal bests of at least 50 seconds faster than their previous 6K bests.
At the NCAA Midwest Regional, 36 teams will compete for the chance to send its runners to the 2022 NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19, in Stillwater, Okla. Friday's meet is one of nine qualifiers across the country, with the top two teams in each regional automatically qualifying for the championships. Teams can also qualify as one of the 13 at-large squads chosen by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Selection Committee based on performances at regionals.
Individual runners can qualify for the national championships separately from their teams. The first four runners to cross the finish line that do not belong to automatic qualifying teams or at-large teams automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, as long as they finish in the top 25 of their region. Two runners are also selected as at-large runners.
