Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ENMU senior hoping for invite to national meet in December
DENVER - The Eastern New Mexico cross country teams concluded their seasons Saturday at the South Central Regional championship meet. It's still up in the air whether senior Mercy Rotich has extended hers.
Rotich finished 15th Saturday in the loaded regional 6K, crossing the finish line in 22:18.7.
Plenty still has to take place before Rotich, who won the region and finished sixth at nationals in 2016, knows if she'll get a bid to the Dec. 1 national meet in Pittsburgh.
Alicja Konieczek of No. 2 Western Colorado (21:28.72) just edged teammate Sophie Seward (21:28.72) for first place among 205 runners. Adams State, ranked No. 1 in the nation,had the 3-4-5 finishers and five in the top 11 for 30 points to win the team title by a point.
Colorado Mines won the men's regional with 49 points, and had the top finisher in senior Grant Colligan with a 30:31.9 finish in the 10K race.
Individual runners are selected following the invitation of 34 teams to the national meet. The top three teams in Division II's eight regional championships all receive a bid, and 10 other teams are chosen at large.
Once the teams are selected, the process of inviting unattached runners begins. The top two runners in every regional from non-qualifying teams receive a bid, and eight more are invited on an at-large basis. The top five runners in every regional get a national bid regardless of team finish, and do not count against the eight at-large positions.
Colorado Mines (No. 6 nationally) took third and the South Central's final automatic regional bid. The South Central's three other nationally-ranked teams - Dallas Baptist (9), Black Hills State (18), Colorado-Colorado Springs (25) - are likely to receive at-large team bids.
If this scenario that plays out, Sabrina Rautter of Metro State (ninth, 21:59) and Amira Cunningham of Lubbock Christian (10th, 22:00) would receive the South Central's two unattached runner bids. Rotich would finish third among unattached runners, and hope for an at-large bid.
By finishing top 15, however, Rotich did receive placement on the all-region team.
Evaline Cheptoo was next for Eastern, crossing in 23:51.04 for 62nd. She was followed by Mason Swanson (89th, 24:28.17), Sierra Quinones (170th, 26:07.92), Abby Kepfer (180th, 26:26.86) and Caroline Bachman (193rd, 27:00.79).
Shane Walsh paced the ENMU men by finishing 89th with a time of 33:56.3. He was followed by Garrett Meyer (139th, 35:21), Lorenzo Juarez (140th, 32:21.4), Shane Rinde (166th, 36:36.6) and Louis Bolander (171st, 37:17.4).
