NCAA Post Season Begins for Emporia State Cross Country

Women's Cross Country | 11/7/2024 5:54:00 PM

Emporia State Cross Country
at the NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships
Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course • Joplin, Mo.
Saturday, November 9 • Men's 10K at 10:00 a.m./Women's 6K at 11:15 a.m.
Live Results | Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: Qualifiers at NCAA Division II National Championships
Saturday, November 23
Arcade Creek Cross Country Course • Sacramento, Calif.

CHAMPIONSHIP TIME
Emporia State makes their first trip to the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course this season for the NCAA Division II Central Regional Championship. The men will be running ten kilometers starting at 10:00 a.m. with the women running six kilometers starting at 11:15 a.m. This is the first step for qualifying teams and certain individuals on the way to the NCAA Championships in two weeks.

LAST RUN
Emporia State cross country competed at the 2024 MIAA Championships in St. Joseph, Mo. on Saturday morning as the women finished eighth and the men finished in tenth place.
The women finished in eighth place, just finishing ahead of Central Missouri in ninth by two points. Emporia State's top finisher was Mason Bina in 54th, as she ran 23:41.43 over the six kilometers. Just behind Bina was Catherine Lyon in 57th, running 23:53.04. The final three Hornets in the top five were Madeline Martin in 80th, Emma Bartholome in 81st and Koe Schultz in 83rd.
In the men's race, the Hornets finished in tenth place, and were led by Dylan Hunter who finished 40th with a time of 25:07.11 over the eight kilometer course. Luke Gleason was just 20 seconds back of Hunter, running 25:27.75 and finishing 57th. Treyton Laurance, Cooper Schroer and Sam McDavitt rounded out the top five finishers for the Hornets as they slotted in at 81st, 90th and 91st place.  

THE COACH
Justin Hill is in his first year as head cross country coach at Emporia State and will be in charge of the middle distance and distance runners for the Hornet track and field program.
Hill has been the director of operations and assistant cross country coach for the Hornets since 2021. He played an integral role in the recently completed NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships held at Welch Stadium and Witten Track.  He served as meet director for Emporia State's regular season home meets in addition to overseeing the operational aspects of the Hornet cross country and track and field programs for the last three years.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS
The Hornet men have had the three different runners lead them in their five races this season. Dylan Hunter paced the Hornets at the MIAA Championships and Gans Creek Classic eight kilometer runs. Treyton Laurance had the top time over eight kilometers at the Greeno Dirksen and ESU Invitationals. Luke Gleason was the top runner for ESU at the six kilometer JK Gold Classic to start the year.  
Mason Bina has been the top finisher for the Emporia State women in all five races this year. Catherine Lyon was the second finisher at the JK Gold, Gans Creek and MIAA Championships while Emma Bartholome moved into the second spot at the Greeno-Dirksen Invitational and Diana Messick took the second spot at the ESU Invitational.

LAST TIME AT THE NCAA REGIONALS
Jaime Diaz had a top 20 finish to highlight Emporia State's day at the NCAA Division II Central Regional Cross Country Championships.
Diaz ran 31:07.80 over the ten kilometer course to place 19th overall. Henry Jones was the second Hornet runner, finishing in a time of 32:44.20 to place 77th while Luke Gleason was 86th in a time of 32:54.97 for Emporia State. Tyler Swift ran 33:11.87 to finish in 101st place and Caleb Liermann finished 150th in a time of 34:40.78 to round out the Hornet scoring. As a team Emporia State placed 16th out of 29 teams.
Tayler Williams was again the top finisher for the Emporia State women. She ran 23:03.96 over the six kilometers to place 96th while Catherine Lyon was 149th in a time of 24:03.05 and Elizabeth Willhite ran 26:10.93 to finish 196th overall. The Emporia State women did not have enough finishers to field at team score.

HOW TO GET TO NATIONALS
The top three teams at the regional along with any individual in the top five and the top two individuals not on a qualifying team will automatically qualify for the national championships. An additional ten at large teams and at least eight individuals will be selected to advance to the national meet as well.

UP NEXT
The National Championships are set for November 23 in Sacramento, Calif. The indoor track & field season is set to begin on December 6-7 at the Boo Rogers Multis in Pittsburg and the WU Invitational in Topeka.

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has five women's teams and three men's teams ranked in the USTFCCCA National Top 30. There are eight women's and five men's teams from the Central Region in the national Top 30. The MIAA and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) are the only leagues with at least three teams ranked in both the men's and women's polls.

HORNETS AT THE MIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Emporia State has won seven MIAA Individual Championships since joining the association in 1991. That is the fourth most individual championships by a conference school in that time.  The Hornets join Missouri Southern nand Central Missouri as the only current MIAA schools with multiple MIAA champions for both the men and women since 1991.

PRESEASON POLLS
The Emporia State men were ranked seventh while the women were ranked 11th in the 2024 Cross Country Coaches Preseason Polls.
Pittsburg State collected seven first-place votes and 113 total points to rank first in the men's poll. The Gorillas captured the program's second MIAA cross country crown at the 2023 championship and went on to place 11th at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship. Northwest Missouri was picked second in the preseason poll with 110 points and four first-place votes. The Bearcats placed 24th at the 2023 national championship. Washburn was selected third in the poll with 93 points.  Missouri Southern tabbed the remaining first place vote and 91 points for the #4 spot in the poll while Nebraska Kearney concluded the coaches' top five with 86 points. Central Missouri was picked #6, followed by Emporia State at #7, Fort Hays State at #8, Missouri Western at #9 and Newman at #10. Rogers State and Arkansas-Fort Smith concluded the poll in 11th and 12th, respectively.
Pittsburg State collected the major first-place votes with 11 and totaled 143 points from MIAA head coaches in the 2024 women's cross country preseason coaches poll. The Gorillas captured the 2023 MIAA championship and went on to place 18th at the NCAA Division II women's national championship. Missouri Southern was picked second in the poll with 128 points. The Lions are the defending MIAA runners-up and placed 28th at the 2023 national championship. Fort Hays State was picked third with 114 points while Nebraska Kearney finished fourth with 108 points and Rogers State fifth with 99 points. Both the Lopers and the Hillcats tabbed a first-place selection in the poll.
Northwest Missouri was picked #6 with 87 points while Missouri Western and Washburn tied for the seventh spot with 76 points each. Central Missouri was picked #9, followed by Newman at #10, Emporia State at #11 and Arkansas-Fort Smith was tabbed #12 for their first season in the MIAA. Central Oklahoma concluded the poll at #13.