2018 NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Date	Fri., Nov. 9, 2018
Location	Terre Haute, Ind. | LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Meet Info	Championship Central | Box Assignments | Men's Entries | Women's Entries | Live Results
FloTrack ($)	Fri., Nov. 9
XC Records	Record Book
MVC Info	XC Home | Men's Performance List | Women's Performance List | Records
Social Media	@IndStTrackField | @SycamoreTrack | @SycamoreTrack

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State Men's and Women's Cross Country teams are set to compete against some of the top teams in the nation for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional, hosted by Indiana State for the second consecutive season.
 
The Great Lakes Regional has historically been one of the toughest regions across the NCAA, and this year is no different with five nationally ranked men's teams and five nationally ranked teams on the women's side.
 
The NCAA uses the regional meets to determine who competes at the national championships, hosted by Wisconsin for the first time since 1978, as the top-two teams in each region automatically qualify to the NCAA Championships. The next four individual finishers not attached to either of those two qualifying teams earn a place in the championships as well.
 
An additional 13 at-large teams and a variable number of additional individuals are chosen through a national selection process within a day following each regional meet across the country on Friday. The top-25 finishers at each regional earn All-Region honors.
 
"It's always an honor to host the NCAA Regional Meet and we love racing against such great competition on our home course," Associate Head Coach for Cross Country Kyle Walsh said.
 
The Sycamore women will compete against 295 student-athletes that comprise 33 teams in the Great Lakes Region in addition to Indiana State on Friday at 11:15 a.m. Joining ISU will be nationally ranked Michigan (7th nationally), Michigan State (10th nationally), Wisconsin (11th nationally), Indiana (14th nationally) and Notre Dame (18th nationally). Fresh off of a fourth place finish at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, the women will be looking to close the season with their best performance of the year.
 
"Our women had our best race of the season last year placing 13th and are ready to bring that same competitiveness Friday. We know we've never finished in the top-10 in the Great Lakes Region so it will take our best day to get that done," Walsh said.  
 
Redshirt junior Brooke Moore led the blue and white at the MVC Championships by finishing as the Valley runner-up with a time 5K school-record time of 17:09.80. She now shares the top 5K spot in Indiana State history with Jessica Crowder. Alli Workman also put on a strong performance in Peoria, Ill. at the Valley Championships, clocking the 16th-best time in Sycamore history at 17:53.50, which was good for 14th place and All-MVC Honorable Mention honors.
 
"Brooke is coming off of her outstanding school-record 5k performance and earned All-MVC for the third time in three tries," Walsh said. "We've been watching her knee closely and she's feeling much better this week. She's worked her way into great shape and will have a chance to earn All-Region honors for the first time in her cross country career."
 
Michaela Ward ran third for the women two weeks ago with the best race of her career acing across the line with a time of 18:06.50. Following Ward was freshman Jocelyn Quiles who claimed the 29th position at 18:24.00. Closing out the top-five for ISU was Terre Haute-native Jessi Conley who finished with a time of 18:47.30.
 
On the men's side, the trees will be one of 30 competing teams who will be bringing a total of 267 student-athletes on Friday to race in the 10K at 12:15 p.m. Of those teams, Wisconsin (3rd nationally), Notre Dame (10th nationally), Purdue (15th nationally), Indiana (23rd nationally) and Michigan (27th nationally) find themselves in the USTFCCCA national rankings. Like the women, the Sycamore men are coming off of a fourth place performance at the MVC Championships two weeks ago.
 
"The men struggled at the season finale last year coming off a great race earning runner-up at the MVC Championship," Walsh said. "We have a very different looking men's lineup and look to conclude our team competition with a great race at home. We know our fitness is strong and we need to race strong in the middle portions of the race."
 
Once again, senior Akis Medrano led the Sycamore men, this time earning All-Valley honors with a third place finish and the third-best 8K time in Indiana State history at 24:06.30. His time was just one second away from the second overall time in school history. Cam Trout was the next finisher for the men, placing just outside of Honorable Mention All-MVC with a final time of 25:07.00, a big personal-best for the sophomore.
 
"Our program has always taken pride in being primed and ready for the MVC and NCAA Regional meets and we look to do that Friday. This will be Akis' last race at LaVern Gibson as he tries to earn All-Region honors for the first time in his career. We know that in order to have a shot to extend his cross country season and make the NCAA Championship meet, he will most likely need to work his way into the top 15. He's learned a lot since the Pre-National meet a month ago and I can't wait to see how he performs versus some of the best runners in the country," Walsh said.   
 
Two freshmen took the third and fourth scoring sports for the blue and white, with Nick Yeend clocking a time of 25:15.50 in 24th, also a big career-best time. Noah Hufnagel took 34th overall with a time of 25:45.90, just .7 away from his personal-best. The fifth and final scorer for the men was Isaac Bentz who crossed the finish line in 39th place and a time of 25:55.40, which is an 8K personal-best.
 
The women's 6K race kicks off at 11:15 a.m. ET, while the men's 10K will wrap things up at 12:15 p.m. The races will be streamed live on FloTrack's subscription service.
 
"We should have two fairly strong runners, but if we want to push for top-10 team finishes, it will come down to a team effort and getting our two through seven runners pushing into strong position and holding tough through the middle stages," Walsh said. "We are relaxed and confident to race at home and we look forward to concluding our team season on a high note and hopefully cheer on Brooke and/or Akis to the NCAA Championship."
 
Quick Hits

• Michigan State claimed the regional championship in 2017 with 68 points, while Michigan took the women's 6K crown with 71 points. The Michigan women have won six of the last seven regional competitions.
• Last season the Sycamore men placed 18th overall while the women earned at top-15 finish, coming in at 13th. The women have never placed in the top-10 in the Great Lakes Region.
• Taylor Austin earned All-Region honors in 2017 after crossing the finish line in 20th place with a time of 21:00.40.
• The highest team finish for the women came in the District V Championships in 1993/1994, where they finished third both years. They also placed fourth as a team in 1995 and 1996.
• The men's highest finish came in the Great Lakes Regional in 2008, where the team placed fourth overall.
• The last Sycamore male to make the NCAA Championships for the men was John Mascari in 2015.
• The last Sycamore female to make the NCAA Championships was Jessica Crowder in 2003.

Men's Great Lakes Region Rankings:
1. Wisconsin #3
2. Notre Dame #10
3. Purdue #15
4. Indiana #23
5. Michigan #27
6. Michigan State
7. Miami (OH)
8. Butler
9. Dayton
10. Youngstown State
11. Marquette
12. Bowling Green
13. Milwaukee
14. Akron
15. IUPUI
 
Women's Great Lakes Region Rankings:
1. Michigan #7
2. Michigan State #10
3. Wisconsin #11
4. Indiana #14
5. Notre Dame #18
6. Eastern Michigan
7. Ohio State
8. Toledo
9. Butler
10. Purdue
11. Miami (OH)
12. Dayton
13. Western Michigan
14. Central Michigan
15. Xavier
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Cross Country teams, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.