Contact: Greta Norville, Assistant Director of Sport Communications and Marketing, norvilleg@midwestconference.org
NEENAH, Wisconsin –The Midwest Conference (MWC) now boasts five cross country programs in the USTFCCCA regional rankings after the week four polls were released on Tuesday.
The MWC remains represented by Cornell College and Grinnell College on the women’s side of the Midwest Region, while Grinnell and Luther College are ranked in the men’s Midwest Region. Ripon College continues to represent the conference in the women’s North Region. All five ranked programs returned to competition this past weekend in Carleton, MN.
Cornell remains at No. 6 in the women’s Midwest Region, holding its position for another week. The Rams competed at the Running of the Cows Pre-National Invite, placing 29th among 35 teams in the Navy Championship Division. Lidia Dahlman placed 30th out of 324 finishers with a 6K time of 22:06 to lead the Rams.
The Grinnell Pioneers hold steady at No. 8 in the women’s Midwest Region. Grinnell had runners compete in two races at Running of the Cows Pre-National Invite, placing 31st out of 35 teams in the Navy race and 23rd out of 32 teams in the Maize Division. Hannah Roth ran the 27th-fastest time in program history in her 119th-place Navy finish (23:06.7).
On the men’s side, Grinnell climbed to No. 8 in the Midwest Region. The Pioneers also competed in two races at the Running of the Cows Pre-National Invite, coming in 29th out of 35 teams in the Navy Championship and 15th out of 16 teams in the Maize Division. Jack Lakin ran the 8K course in 25 minutes, 48.3 seconds (112th out of 331 in the Navy race) to lead Grinnell.
The Luther men enter the Midwest Region rankings at No. 9, their first regional ranking of the season. The Norse finished third out of 20 teams at the Running of the Cows Pre-National Invite in the Maize Division. Adam Gray and Michael Heinrich took second and third individually as Luther had a trio of top-10 finishers.
In the North Region, the Ripon women moved up to No. 9 as the Red Hawks placed 25th as a team in the Navy Championship at the Running of the Cows Pre-National Invite. Joley Berger placed sixth out of 324 athletes in 23:33.0.
Two of the five teams return to competition this Saturday (October 10). The Ripon women head to Lawrence’s Gene Davis Invite, while Luther hosts its Legends Invite.