Women place two in top 10 at Michigan Intercollegiates
The door is open for two cross country runners to grab a top seven spot after they finished in the top eight at the Michigan Intercollegiate Championships on Friday.
Willie Randolph, director of track & field and cross country, decided to only have six women runners compete at the non-scoring meet in Rochester, Mich. Senior Brittany Dixon placed seventh in the 5K race with a time of 18 minutes, 34 seconds. Sophomore Maddie Ribant continues to impress the coaches after finishing eighth in the field of 224 runners with a time of 18:35.
“We always expect them to be in the top 10 at every meet. Those girls have been working hard all season long,” Randolph said.
Ribant ran a personal record on Friday, shedding 32 seconds off her pervious PR set at the 25th Jeff Drenth Memorial in Mount Pleasant.
“I still like I have room to improve, but it was a good step in the right direction,” Ribant said. “I was able to work with Brittany a lot, which she helped push the pace for me.”
Randolph said Ribant has taken a tremendous leap from last year.
With their performances, Dixon and Ribant are now in a position to compete for the top-seven spot.
CMU’s remaining four runners crossed the line in the top 100 as well. Senior Melissa Darling placed 39th (19:28.0), junior Veronica Garcia finished 42nd (19:33.2) and Courtney Hughes placed 83rd (20:25.4). Sophomore Jacquelyn McEnhill rounded out the race for the Chippewas, placing 86th.
Men sit out
Randolph decided Monday not to have the men’s team compete in the meet. The top seven still remains with Cory Arnold, Jason Drudge, Zach Tranter, Chris Pankow, Nathan Huff, Chris Lotz and Jeremy Kiley.
“We wanted to make sure they are mentally and physically ready to go for the next couple of meets,” Randolph said.
Instead, Randolph’s objective was to get spots solidified for the women’s top seven before Pre-Nationals and MAC Championships on Oct. 16 and Oct. 30, respectively.
“We had a solid showing,” Randolph said. “We were looking for another opportunity to have some girls to get competitive and see where they can be overall with our team and where they are when it comes to the bigger meets at the end of the season.”
The women were without top runners freshman Krista Parks, Raeanne Lohner, Kylee Kubacki, Sarah Squires and Holly Anderson. But the team appears to be a real contender for a Mid-American Conference Championship when some of its “B runners,” who Randolph said competed near the top Friday against fellow MAC schools Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.
Depth for women
Randolph said the women’s lineup, now nine deep in his eyes, poses some tough decisions going forward.
Because only seven can race, the pair’s solid performances puts pressure on senior All-MAC selection Melissa Darling, who struggled to finish near the top on Friday. But Randolph said he isn’t disappointed in her numbers and is confident she will return to her old self.
“Right now she is coming back and will be fine,” Randolph said. “We know she will be the Missy of the old.”
The entire cross country program is back in action on Oct. 16, when the Chippewas head to the Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind.
This is the point in the season where training becomes to show through and performances begin to peak, Randolph said.
“Everybody will know where they will be after next week’s meet,” he said.
