Women set program record with eighth place finish at NCAA Regionals
The Central Michigan women’s cross country team did something on Saturday it has have never done before, finishing in eighth place at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships in Rochester.
Junior Raeanne Lohner finished 15th of out a field of 231 runners with a time of 21 minutes and 4 seconds in the 6,000-meter race. Lohner earned an All-Region selection with her performance and is the first CMU women’s runner since Suzy Sommers in 1989 to earn that distinction.
Chippewas Director of Cross Country Willie Randolph could not be more thrilled of Lohner’s season.
Randolph said that for Lohner to complete her first cross country season after being recruited to run just an 800-meter race is impressive and something that the coach is proud of.
“A lot of my success was carried through momentum from the track season last year,” said Lohner, who also competes on the women’s track and field team. “Being selected to the All-Regional team was a nice way to finish the season.”
The women’s team has another runner to be excited about for the future. Freshman Krista Parks was the first Chippewa runner to finish behind Lohner, in 29th place with a time of 21 minutes and 31 seconds. She was the third fastest freshman in the region.
“Having one of the top freshmen in the region shows the recruiting of this team,” Randolph said.
The remaining four runners for CMU finished in the top 100. Junior Holly Anderson finished 59th (21:58.79), senior Danielle Dakroub was 62nd (22:02.89), sophomore Maddie Ribant placed 70th (22:11.04) and senior Kylee Kubacki was 71st (22:11.71).
Randolph had hopes of qualifying for NCAA Nationals, but finishing in the top 10 was expected.
“We are very proud of the team considering the last two years we have been in the top ten,” he said. “We hoped to finish higher than eighth, but we are still grateful.” “This has been one of the programs best teams ever. The seniors were able to walk away with good memories while going out on top,” Lohner said.
Like Lohner, Randolph believes the squad is heading in a strong direction. In addition to Lohner and Parks returning with another year of experience next year, Randolph will be expecting a lot more from the women.
“We have a lot of great pieces to the puzzles in place,” Randolph said. “We are hoping to get over that hump of 2nd place in the MAC and start to win championships.”
Men’s side
The men’s team finished 19th out of 31 teams. In his last collegiate race the Chippewas were lead by senior Cory Arnold. Arnold finished 82nd in a field of 216 runners with a time of 32 minutes and 16 seconds in the 10K race.
Randolph said Arnold ran like a senior with no regrets and was also pleased to see the underclassman step up and make a mark for next season.
Sophomore Jason Drudge finished with a time of (32:25.85), placing 89th. Freshman Zach Tranter was 98th with a time of (32:34.82). Junior Jeremy Kiley finished in 109th with a time of (32:46.69) and senior Chris Pankow placed in 110th with a time of (32:46.87).
“Jason Drudge and Zach Tranter ran really strong,” he said. “It is going to be a much different and stronger team next year.”
Despite finishing near the bottom of the region, the men’s team did beat Akron and Toledo, two teams they did not beat in the MAC Championship meet.
Randolph is confident with the men’s team moving forward. CMU will have some top runners back since being redshirted this year.
“We are looking towards the future to win the MAC and qualify for Nationals,” he said. “We want to thank the other seniors for helping the young guys get into the right direction.”
