Weekend Recap: NCAA DII Conference Championships & NJCAA Region Championships Headline Action

Welcome to the postseason!

Conference champions are being crowned in NCAA Division II, while regional champions are earning trophies across the NJCAA.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results

The postseason is only going to ramp up over the next few weeks.

Let’s check out what happened this weekend, though.

RMAC Championships

Men’s 8k

Colorado School of Mines continued its dominance of the RMAC.

The Orediggers put all five scoring athletes in the top-10, highlighted by a 2-3-4 finish by Loic Scomparin, Paul Knight and Logan Bocovich. Together, plus Matt Mettler (sixth) and Max Bonenberger (ninth), they combined for 24 points as Colorado School of Mines easily dispatched five other top-25 programs, including No. 6 Adams State (second) and No. 5 Western Colorado (third).

Romain Legendre of Adams State captured top individual honors in 23:33.8.

Women’s 6k

It wasn’t even close.

That goes for the race for both the individual title and team title.

Ava O’Connor of Adams State romped to victory on Saturday, traversing the 6k course in 19:28.3, more than ten seconds faster than runner-up Peyton Weiss of Western Colorado. With O’Connor’s ultimate low stick, the top-ranked Grizzlies rolled to victory with 30 points as they put three other runners in the top-10.

No. 3 CSU Pueblo took second behind Adams State with No. 11 UC Colorado Springs placing third ahead of No. 7 Western Colorado.

NAIA Great Lakes Challenge

Nearly half of the teams ranked in the most recent NAIA Cross Country National Coaches’ Polls competed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Men’s 8k

Eli Fullerton and Indiana Wesleyan reigned supreme.

Fullerton captured the individual title in 24:12.6 and seventh-ranked Wildcats were the only team with their entire scoring lineup in the top-50. Indiana Wesleyan totaled 140 points, 31 fewer than No. 14 Rio Grande (Ohio). No. 6 Spring Arbor (Mich.) took third with 178 points with No. 8 Taylor (Ind.) in fourth with 181 points and RV Marian (Ind.) in fifth with 224 points.

Women’s 5k

Jaynie Halterman continued her undefeated season and Taylor rolled with their freshman low stick at the front of the pack.

Halterman taversed the 5k course in 16:57.8, nearly 15 seconds faster than runner-up Katie Woods of Marian (Ind.). Behind Halterman, the second-ranked Trojans put their entire scoring lineup in the top-11 with a 1-3-4-8-11 finish. Taylor easily dispatched No. 10 Grace (Ind.) by 88 points, 27-115. No. 13 Indiana Wesleyan took third with 131 points, just one point fewer than No. 22 Marian (Ind.) with 131 points.

NJCAA Region 5 Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

A bevy of ranked teams from West Texas and New Mexico descended on Harry McAdams Park in Hobbs, New Mexico.

Men’s 8k

Mohammed El Youssfi of Odessa (Texas) won for the first time this year with a seasonal best of 23:07.2. The time was 28.6 seconds clear of his nearest pursuer – Hamdani Benahmed of South Plains (Texas) and also 45.7 seconds faster than he ran on this same course two weeks ago. El Youssfi’s time was also just 2.4 seconds off the JUCO course record of 23:04.8 set last year by Tomas Vega of New Mexico JC.

The team battle featured three top-10 ranked squads among eight total ranked teams, with No. 3 El Paso (Texas) CC winning for the first time since 2022 with 41 points thanks to having three in the top-10 – Matthew Kipkoech (fourth), Wallace Kigen (fifth) and Hector Sanchez (seventh). No. 6 New Mexico JC and No. 10 Odessa were next with 64 and 82 points, respectively.

The rest of the team order did not follow the rankings: No. 23 Hill (Texas) 116, No. 21 Ranger (Texas) 126, No. 16 North Central Texas 133, No. 25 Western Texas 156 and No. 17 Amarillo (Texas) 166.

Women’s 5k

Odessa’s Elizabeth Ilanda didn’t break her two-week-old course record of 17:16.3, but she was still impressive with the course’s second-fastest time of 17:23.7 to win by 55.8 seconds over Amal Kachouri of New Mexico JC.

The host T-Birds had three more runners in the top-10 to easily capture a third-straight team title with 35 points. Runner-up honors went to No. 12 El Paso (Texas) CC with 72 points ahead of No. 10 Odessa (Texas) at 82.

Four more ranked teams followed: No. 19 Ranger (Texas) 107, No. 18 Amarillo (Texas) 129, No. 20 Hill (Texas) 129 and No. 22 North Central Texas 147.

NJCAA Region 6 Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Wichita-area rivals Butler (Kan.) CC and Hutchinson (Kan.) CC provided most of the excitement in the Sunflower State as programs of all divisions ran together in Arkansas City, Kansas.

Men’s 8k

Emmanuel Otim of Butler took off near the 5k point to open up a winning gap that reached 6.3 seconds at the finish, clocking 23:40.5 for his fourth win in five races this year. The Hutchinson duo of Dennis Cheruiyot and Cornelius Kogo followed with Sibonelo Khumalo of Colby (Kan.) and yet a third Blue Dragon – Titus Kiprotich – also finishing sub-24.

With three in the top-5, No. 5 Hutchinson posted a surprising upset for the team title with 35 points over the 51 total by No. 4 Butler. Next were No. 14 Fort Hays Tech Northwest (84) and No. 11 Garden City CC (105), with NJCAA DII No. 7 Cowley completing the top-5 with 159 points.

Women’s 5k

A wide-open individual race gave no clue that a super-close team battle would follow.

Freshman Faith Jepchirchir of Hutchinson made the individual contest look easy, covering 5k in 17:08.5 to win by 12.3 seconds over Rosemary Arthur of Colby CC. In third was N Vanee Anchike of Cloud County CC as positions 2-3 reversed themselves from last year.

Then came the hard part – team scoring. No. 7 Butler ended up edging No. 6 Hutchinson, 69-70, after what originally looked like a tie with Hutchinson earning a tiebreaker. Ever so close were No. 14 Dodge City CC with 73 points and No. 13 Cloud County at 76. No. 15 Garden City CC was fifth at 110, with NJCAA DII No. 5 Cowley just behind at 116.

NJCAA Region 11 Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

The Hawkeye State was looked upon by many as a virtual dual meet among rivals Iowa Central CC and Iowa Western CC. Not so fast, as some say, though each garnered a pair of individual and team titles.

Men’s 8k

The Geofrey Ronoh show made its latest stop another victorious one as the freshman won for the fifth time in five races this fall. On this occasion it was by 10.7 seconds in 23:18.2 over teammate Barnabas Ndiwa as the top-4 broke the course record of 23:40.

The Reivers had four of the top-5 finishers – including defending champion Mohammed Kowa as their No. 3 runner in fourth – to easily win the team title with 18 points. Surprisingly, runner-up honors went to NJCAA DII No. 5 Des Moines Area CC with 51 points ahead of DI No. 9 Iowa Central’s total of 71.

Women’s 5k

Yididiya Bifa of Iowa Central CC earned the seasonal edge on Iowa Western CC’s Barbara Neiva with a 5.8 victory over 5k here in 18:13.0. The region’s two top runners had been 1-1 without a head-to-head meeting since early September.

Bifa led an avalanche of Tritons across the finish line as No. 3 Iowa Central had four of the top-5 to win the team crown with 21 points. The No. 9 Reivers countered with three in the top-10 to take runner-up honors with 55 points as NJCAA DII Des Moines Area CC garnered third with 73 points.

NAIA Appalachian Challenge

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k

It all came down to the fifth runner to decide the victor between top-ranked Milligan (Tenn.) and No. 13 Cumberlands (Ky.) after 8k of racing.

When the dust settled, the Buffs emerged victorious by one point, 74-75. Led by Bryn Woodall’s individual title, Milligan (Tenn.) went 1-9-17-22-25, compared to the Patriots’ 3-13-15-18-26. Sylas Chambers provided the Buffs their margin of victory, finishing 1.3 seconds ahead of Ryan Ehrler of Cumberlands (Ky.), 25:16.0 to 25:17.3.

Women’s 5k

Montreat (N.C.) got the individual title, but Milligan (Tenn.) got the win.

The top-ranked Buffs went 2-5-8-13-16 for 44 points, 13 fewer than the eighth-ranked Cavaliers. Ellen-Mary Kearney was Milligan (Tenn.)’s top runner on the day, finishing second – 3.8 seconds behind Heather Murphy of Cumberlands (Ky.).