Four Pioneers Earn All-Region at NCAA Midwest

Four Pioneers earned All-Region honors at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet. Zach Lee and Walker Rynes finished 4^th and 6^th place in the 8,000m race. Their places will assure them an individual qualifying spot to the NCAA National meet next weekend. Johanna Meister and Katie Wardinski finished 11^th and 15^th in the 6,000m race to earn All-Region honors. They are both likely individual qualifiers to next week's NCAA National meet.

The women ran a strong race to finish 7^th place overall, tied for the second highest finish in program history. Their score of 252 points was shy of UW-River Falls' 208 points but ahead of St. Norbert's 271 points. UW-Eau Claire took the title with 59 points and Washington University was second with 75 points. The top-2 teams in each of the eight regions received an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA National meet. In addition to the 16 automatic qualifiers, there will be 16 at-large qualifiers that will be announced on Sunday at 3pm. UW-Platteville's finish gives them an outside chance of qualifying as a team.

The cool, dry and calm day led to some incredibly fast times. Meister finished 2-seconds behind the school record with a time of 21:20 while Wardinski finished in 21:26. Janelle Ferguson was the Pioneers' third runner finishing 54^th with a time of 22:19. Camille Felton finished 80^th in 22:53 and Caitlyn Ifft was 94^th in 23:04. Rounding out the top-7 were Mariah Brown (107^th, 23:20) and Kaitlyn Galgon (115^th, 23:30).

Lee crossed the finish in 23:43 for the men, the second fastest time in school history. Rynes finished close behind in 23:49.  Logan Steinhoff was the Pioneers' third runner in 69^th place with a time of 25:11. Nolan Wallenkamp finished 81^st in 25:26 and Ben Rhode was 104^th in 25:46. Cole Shurbert-Hetzel (109^th/25:50) and Kyle Herbrand (153^rd/26:45) rounded out the top-7.

The men finished 8^th overall with a point total of 262 points. The Pioneers were edged out by UW-Stevens Point's 260 points and finished ahead of UW-Whitewater's 288 points. North Central took the team title with 34 points and Wis.-La Crosse took second with 81 points.