Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
 
HILBERT, Wisconsin – Five Midwest Conference men’s and women’s cross country programs continue to be recognized regionally as the USTFCCCA Week Five polls came out on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Three teams are ranked on the women’s side, while two are still ranked on the men’s side. Cornell College (No. 6) and Grinnell College (No. 8) occupy spots in the women’s Midwest Region, while Ripon College (No. 8) moves up one spot in the women’s North Region. Two men’s Midwest Region spots belong to MWC schools - Grinnell (No. 8) and Luther College (No. 9).
 
The Cornell women boast a pair of team runner-up finishes in three meets this season. Lidia Dahlman has the MWC’s second-fastest time – ran at the Gil Dodds Invitational in September – while Milar Little (No. 7) and Carley Seeley (No. 10) also have top-10 times.
 
Grinnell’s women’s team has also finished second in two team meets this season with a third-place finish as well. Hannah Roth ran the league’s fifth-fastest 6K at Carleton’s Running of the Cows just 10 days ago.
 
The Ripon women are the league’s only movers of the week after a sixth-place finish at Lawrence’s Gene Davis Invite over the weekend. Joley Berger owns the top 6K time in the Midwest Conference, ran at the Running of the Cows, while Addy Baird has the league’s sixth-fastest outing.
 
The Grinnell men own a trio of runner-up team finishes in 2026. Three of the MWC’s top eight 8K times belong to Pioneers: Jack Lakin (No. 4 - Running of the Cows), Ben Abelow (No. 5) and Leif Dahl (No. 8).
 
Luther’s men’s program has claimed two team titles in the first four meets of the season, and three Norse are ranked in the top 10 of the league’s 8K marks: Adam Gray (No. 2 - Running of the Cows), Michel Heinrich (No. 3) and Jacob Bruns (No. 10).
All five teams are in action this weekend. Cornell, Grinnell and Ripon head to the Augustana Interregional Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois, while Luther treks out west to Linfield’s George Oja Invite in Independence, Oregon.