Washington University Acquires Third Straight Midwest Regional Title

Washington University (Mo.) ran away from the pack and coasted to the team title at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Midwest Regional held Saturday (Nov. 10) at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis.

The Bears, who entered the meet as the third-ranked team in the nation by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, scored 41 points to earn its third straight Midwest Regional title. Ninth-ranked UW-Eau Claire finished second among the 37 squads with 87 points.

Washington University had four of the top 10 individual finishers, including Tyler Mulkin who completed the 6,000-meter race with a third-place time of 21:27. The Bears also had Kate Pentak finish fifth in 21:36, Tricia Frisella ninth in 21:53 and Lisa Sudmeier 10th in 21:54.

Washington University and UW-Eau Claire both qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship that will be held Nov. 17 in Northfield, Minn.

Other teams hoping to receive one of the 16 at-large selections to the NCAA Division III Championship from the Midwest Regional are 10th-ranked UW-Platteville, 18th-ranked UW-La Crosse, 25th-ranked UW-Oshkosh and 35th-ranked UW-Stevens Point. UW-Platteville finished third at the Midwest Regional with 99 points, UW-La Crosse fourth with 113, UW-Oshkosh fifth with 221 and UW-Stevens Point sixth with 223. UW-Stevens Point captured Midwest Regional titles in both 2003 and 2004.

The complete list of team and individual qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Championship will be announced by the NCAA on Sunday (Nov. 11).

Rounding out the list of top 10 teams were seventh-place Wheaton College (Ill.) with 232 points, eighth-place North Central College (Ill.) with 269, ninth-place UW-River Falls with 302 and 10th-place UW-Whitewater with 325.

Winning the individual title was Becca Jordahl of UW-River Falls. Jordahl ran to a time of 21:05, 13 seconds faster than the second-place time of 21:18 recorded by UW-Oshkosh's Ayla Mitchell.

The top 10 also featured UW-Eau Claire's Beth Lutz finishing fourth in 21:27, UW-Platteville's Jessica Scott sixth in 21:37, UW-Eau Claire's Mary Palmer seventh in 21:44 and Carroll College's Erin Kelley eighth in 21:46.

A total of 266 runners finished the race.