Men's Cross Country | 10/9/2026 11:07:00 AM

Emporia State Cross Country
at NCAA Pre-Nationals
Rim Rock Farm • Lawrence, Kan.
Sunday, October 11 • Men's 8K at 9:30 a.m./Women's 6K at 10:15 a.m.
Live Results: Black Squirrel Timing
Up Next: Griffon Open
Saturday, October 24 • 9:45 a.m.
MWSU Course • St. Joseph, Mo.

PRE-NATIONAL
Emporia State will compete on the same course that the NCAA Division II National Championships will be held on when they compete in the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Sunday at Rim Rock Farm outside Lawrence, Kan. There are seven men's and seven women's teams ranked in the Top 30 nationally entered into the meet. The meet is co-hosted by Northwest Missouri and the MIAA in conjunction with the D2 Fall Sports Festival that will be in Kansas City the first weekend in December.

LAST RUN
Competing in their largest meet of the year so far the Emporia State men placed 14th and the women 19th at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo. on September 25.  There were 275 men representing 27 teams in the men's competition while the women's race had 31 teams and 259 runners start.
The Hornet men were led by senior Gage Chapman who ran an 8K personal best of 26:40.9 to finish in 88th place.  HE was followed closely by a pair of freshman with Jordan Schierbaum placing 91st in 26:43.4 and Bryce Roberts with a time of 26:46.6 to finish in 94th place.  Junior Dylan Hunter ran 27:13.1 to place 115th after being in the top 60 for the first 6000m of the race.  Elijah Edwards placed 136th with a personal best 8K time of 27:33.9 to round out the scoring for the Hornets.
Junior Emma Bartholome was the top finisher for the Emporia State women. She was 104th overall with a time of 23:37.5, her second best time over 6K in her career. The next two spots for the Hornets were freshmen with Brett Jacobson running 24:00.2 to place 136th and Montgomery Morgan clocking in at 24:07.6 for a 141st place finish.  Sophomore Brooklyn Nolte was 169th in a time of 24:35.4 while junior Maria Ham ran 24:57.4 to place 183rd and round out the Emporia State scoring.

THE COACH
Justin Hill is in his third 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 was the director of operations and assistant cross country coach for the Hornets from 2021-24. 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.

BIG TEAM
The Hornets brought back five of the top six men and four of the top five women runners from last year and have a total of 20 men and 16 women in the program this year.

QUICK LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The Emporia State men finished third at the JK Gold Classic, fifth at the Ollie Isom and 14th at Gans Creek. A different runner has led ESU in each competition. Gage Chapman was top finisher for the Hornets at Gans Creek with a time of 26:40.9 over eight kilometers. Bryce Roberts led the Hornets at the Ollie Isom with a time of 27:40.6 over the eight kilometer course. Dylan Hunter was the top finisher for ESU at the JK Gold with a time of 19:14.14 over six kilometers. Jordan Schierbaum has been the second runner in all three races for ESU.
The Hornet women placed third at the JK Gold Classic, fourth at the Ollie Isom and 19th at Gans Creek. Like the men, a different runner has led ESU in each competition. Emma Bartholome was the top finisher fo the Horents at Gans Creek with a time of 23:37.5 over six kilometers. Montgomery Morgan led ESU runners with a time of 19:46.41 at the JK Gold while Brett Jacobsen was the top Hornet finisher at the Ollie Isom in 20:53.3 with both races going five kilometers. 

LAST TIME AT RIM ROCK
Emporia State has not run at Rim Rock since the 2014 Rim Rock Classic. In that meet Emily Schoenfeld placed 35th in the women's competition  while Thomas LaRoche was the top finisher for the Emporia State men, coming in 78th overall. Schoenfeld ran 23:19.7 over the six kilometers to place 35th out of 106 finishers. LaRoche ran 27:25.4 on the eight kilometer men's course for a 78th place finish overall.
  
HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has four women's teams and four men's teams in the USTFCCCA National Top 30. The MIAA and RMAC are the only leagues with at least four teams ranked in both the men's and women's polls.
Five different MIAA schools are represented in the USTFCCCA Central Regional Rankings. The MIAA has five teams in both the men's and women's regional rankings.

UP NEXT
The Hornets will take part in the Griffon Open at Missouri Western on Saturday, October 24 in St. Joseph, Mo.