The Bulldogs travel to Terre Haute, Ind., Friday to run in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The 34-team regional, hosted by Indiana State, will take place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. The women will take on a 6k course beginning at 11:15 a.m., the men follow, navigating an 8k course at 12:15 p.m.
This will mark the fifth time that the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet has been held in Terre Haute. Known as XC Town USA, Terre Haute has hosted the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships 12 times beginning in 2002 and continuing every year from 2004-2011 and then again in 2013, 2014 and 2016
Both the Butler men and the women placed eighth at last year's Great Lakes Regional.
The Bulldog men are coming off a second-place finish at the BIG EAST Championships, placing five runners in the top 20. The men will compete against three nationally-ranked teams in No. 10 Michigan, No. 15 Michigan State, and No. 25 Wisconsin. Both the Bulldog men and women will run against in-state foes Ball State, Evansville, Indiana, Indiana State, IPFW, IUPUI, Notre Dame, Purdue, and Valparaiso.
The Butler men will be without their front-runner
Euan Makepeace on Friday. Makepeace placed ninth at last year's regional.
"Euan will not be able to go on Friday. Obviously that has a tremendous impact on our team. He is our leader and an equalizer for us against a lot of teams," Coach
Matt Roe said.
"With that said, I am really pleased with the team that will toe the line. They are maturing into a very competitive unit. There is a lot of fight and unity in this group. They are fit, excited, and ready to race."
The seven men competing in the race will be selected from the group of
Barry Keane,
Matt Lumbar,
Johnny Leverenz,
Evan Johnson, Jon Collier,
Eric Baugh,
Michael Carey, and
Jackson Martin.
Keane (fifth, 24:52.5), Lumbar (sixth, 24:55.4), Leverenz (10
th, 24:04.5), Johnson (14
th, 25:10.5), and Makepeace (19
th, 25:23.3) were the top five finishers for the Bulldogs at the BIG EAST Championships.
The women, who are coming off a seventh-place finish at the BIG EAST Championships, will compete against No. 8 Michigan, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 21 Michigan State, No. 25 Ohio State, and No. 27 Eastern Michigan.
"Friday is going to be an important day for our young group of women. The experience gained from a regional championship will be invaluable as we build toward being a top-level team. We are only going to be better moving forward," Coach Roe said.
The seven women competing will be chosen from the group of
Josephine Thestrup,
Angelina Ellis,
Camille Hines,
Hannah Hartzell,
Kristen Johnson,
Kara Stark,
Kelly Mindak, and
Allison Miller.
Thestrup took 17
th at the BIG EAST Championships with a time of 21:05.8.
Teams that qualify out of the NCAA Regionals for the NCAA Championships will travel to Louisville, Ky., for the event on Nov. 18.
More information and race results can be found
here.
