Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, November 9
Terre Haute, Ind.
11:15 a.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Women's Cross Country Finishes Sixth in NCAA Great Lakes Regional
11/9/2018 4:36:00 PM | Women's XC
Meyers and Cizmas each finished in the top-15
Complete Results
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's cross country team finished sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship Friday, Nov. 9, in Terre Haute, Ind. The Eagles finished with two harriers in the top-15, while the team posted a collective score of 231 points.
"It was a good performance for us," said EMU Head Coach Sue Parks. "Our 1-5 were very solid. Sixth place was the best that we could have finished today. Sydney Meyers and Natalie Cizmas had strong races against tough competition. It was the first regional meet for our other five runners and I know that they will learn from this experience. I'm proud of our effort today."
Senior Sydney Meyers (Zionsville, Ind.-Zionsville Community) continued her impressive 2018 campaign, leading the Eagles with a 10th-place finish in 20:47. That finish is 24 places higher than where she concluded last year's meet (34th), while also warranting all-region honors for the second time in her career.
Redshirt senior Natalie Cizmas (Clinton Twp., Mich.-Chippewa Valley) also resumed her strong season, finishing 15th overall with a time of 20:53. She too showed monumental improvement from last year's competition, finishing 25 places higher (40th). Additionally, Cizmas' top-25 finish earned her all-region honors, the second of her career.
In just her second postseason competition donning the Green and White, junior Emily Smith (Somerset, England-Wells Cathedral School) concluded the meet in 45th with a personal-best 6k mark of 21:27. Rounding out EMU's scoring harriers were sophomores Madison Distelrath (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Homestead) and Ashleigh Simonis (Cape Town, South Africa-Milnerton), who crossed 64th and 97th with times of 21:56 and 22:25, respectively.
As the Eagles did not end up securing a top-two finish, they will now wait to see if they have earned an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Championships, which will be announced this weekend. If they do qualify as a team, it would mark just the fourth time in program history that the team qualified to the meet. However, based on their performances, Meyers and Cizmas have a good shot at qualifying as individuals to the championship meet.
Team Results
1. Michigan 46
2. Wisconsin 82
3. Michigan State 89
4. Notre Dame 100
5. Indiana 137
6. Eastern Michigan 231
7. Ohio State 265
8. Purdue 280
9. Toledo 297
10. Butler 316
EMU Individual Results (* denotes personal-best)
10. Sydney Meyers 20:47
15. Natalie Cizmas 20:53
45. Emily Smith 21:27*
64. Madison Distelrath 21:56
97. Ashleigh Simonis 22:25
139. Kaitlyn St. Bernard 23:05
206. Lexi Seifert 25:29
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's cross country team finished sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship Friday, Nov. 9, in Terre Haute, Ind. The Eagles finished with two harriers in the top-15, while the team posted a collective score of 231 points.
"It was a good performance for us," said EMU Head Coach Sue Parks. "Our 1-5 were very solid. Sixth place was the best that we could have finished today. Sydney Meyers and Natalie Cizmas had strong races against tough competition. It was the first regional meet for our other five runners and I know that they will learn from this experience. I'm proud of our effort today."
Senior Sydney Meyers (Zionsville, Ind.-Zionsville Community) continued her impressive 2018 campaign, leading the Eagles with a 10th-place finish in 20:47. That finish is 24 places higher than where she concluded last year's meet (34th), while also warranting all-region honors for the second time in her career.
Redshirt senior Natalie Cizmas (Clinton Twp., Mich.-Chippewa Valley) also resumed her strong season, finishing 15th overall with a time of 20:53. She too showed monumental improvement from last year's competition, finishing 25 places higher (40th). Additionally, Cizmas' top-25 finish earned her all-region honors, the second of her career.
In just her second postseason competition donning the Green and White, junior Emily Smith (Somerset, England-Wells Cathedral School) concluded the meet in 45th with a personal-best 6k mark of 21:27. Rounding out EMU's scoring harriers were sophomores Madison Distelrath (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Homestead) and Ashleigh Simonis (Cape Town, South Africa-Milnerton), who crossed 64th and 97th with times of 21:56 and 22:25, respectively.
As the Eagles did not end up securing a top-two finish, they will now wait to see if they have earned an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Championships, which will be announced this weekend. If they do qualify as a team, it would mark just the fourth time in program history that the team qualified to the meet. However, based on their performances, Meyers and Cizmas have a good shot at qualifying as individuals to the championship meet.
Team Results
1. Michigan 46
2. Wisconsin 82
3. Michigan State 89
4. Notre Dame 100
5. Indiana 137
6. Eastern Michigan 231
7. Ohio State 265
8. Purdue 280
9. Toledo 297
10. Butler 316
EMU Individual Results (* denotes personal-best)
10. Sydney Meyers 20:47
15. Natalie Cizmas 20:53
45. Emily Smith 21:27*
64. Madison Distelrath 21:56
97. Ashleigh Simonis 22:25
139. Kaitlyn St. Bernard 23:05
206. Lexi Seifert 25:29
Players Mentioned
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
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