Men's Results  |  Women's Results

The Butler men won the 2023 Great Lakes Regional Friday afternoon, which also punched the team's ticket to next week's NCAA Championships. It marks the first Great Lakes regional championship in program history.

Butler, which entered the meet ranked No. 12 nationally in the most recent USTFCCCA poll, placed all five of its scorers among the Top 15. The Bulldogs moved to the front of a large lead pack early and put themselves in position for the team title by holding five of the top 12 spots with 2,000 meters remaining.

Florian Le Pallec was the first Bulldog to cross the line, finishing fourth. He was followed closely by teammates William Zegarski (fifth), Matthew Forrester (ninth), Will Minnette (tenth), and Jesse Hamlin (15^th). That fivesome each earned All-Great Lakes Region honors.

Bob Liking and Jackson Sharp of Wisconsin went 1-2 individually. Liking's time was 29:40.9 on the 10k course.

The Bulldogs, with 43 points, came in ahead of three nationally-ranked programs in host and No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 25 Michigan, and No. 17 Notre Dame. There were 30 teams and 211 runners in the field.

Friday's meet was held on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, just outside of the University of Wisconsin campus in Verona, Wis.

Butler receives one of the Great Lakes Region's two automatic team berths in next week's NCAA Championships. Nine regional meets will take place nationally Friday. Those 18 automatic qualifiers will be joined by 13 at-large teams in the NCAA field.

Prior to Friday's men's title, the best men's regional finishes came in both 2008 and 2004 when the team finished third. Butler's women placed second in the 2013 regional.

The Butler men entered Friday's meet on the heels of capturing the BIG EAST team title Oct. 28, which was the Bulldogs' third men's title in the last four years under head coach Matt Roe.

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS:
1) No. 12 Butler, 43 points
2) No. 5 Wisconsin, 70
3) No. 25 Michigan, 93
4) No. 17 Notre Dame, 95
5) Michigan State, 127

THE BUTLER MEN (10K):
4) Florian Le Pallec, 29:43.8
5) William Zegarski, 29:44.1
9) Matthew Forrester, 29:52.6
10) Will Minnette, 29:54.7
15) Jesse Hamlin, 30:08.9
38) David Slapak, 30:40.0
42) Jack McMahon, 30:41.7

A year ago, Barry Keane captured the regional title and Hamlin finished second. That duo helped the Bulldogs to a fourth-place team finish and ultimately an at-large NCAA Championships berth.

COACH MATT ROE ON THE BUTLER MEN: "We were really looking for a great effort today. We weren't overly concerned about winning, but we wanted to compete and build toward the NCAAs next week. The men were able to get in position early in the race, worked well together and finished hard. With our training going so well over the last few weeks, I knew we could be dangerous, and I like the position we are in for the NCAA meet."

THE WOMEN'S RACE
Elsa Rusthoven led the Butler women in Wisconsin, as she picked up a 15^th-place finish individually. Rusthoven covered the 6k course in 20:50.7 to earn All-Region honors. She is in line for an individual berth in the upcoming NCAA Championships, but will wait until Saturday for the field to be finalized and announced. If Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan State all make the NCAA field as full teams, Rusthoven would be guaranteed an NCAA entry as one of four individual qualifiers from the Great Lakes Region.

Wiktoria Klebowska (27^th) and Ashlyn Minton (48^th) also finished among the Top 50 for the Bulldogs.

The Butler women finished ninth in the team standings. No. 9 Notre Dame captured the team title (39 points) as all five of their scorers finished among the top 12 positions. The Fighting Irish were followed by No. 23 Wisconsin, No. 14 Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State.

There were 231 runners representing a total of 33 teams in the field.
 
THE BUTLER WOMEN (6K):
15) Elsa Rusthoven, 20:50.7
27) Wiktoria Klebowska, 21:08.5
48) Ashlyn Minton, 21:27.0
60) Abby Olson, 21:36.6
138) Renate Toldo, 22:53.5
139) Ashley Learn, 22:54.1
161) Abby Fostveit, 23:09.7

COACH MATT ROE ON THE BUTLER WOMEN: "I'm super-pleased with what our women did today. Throughout the fall, we have really focused on building toward the postseason, and we were able to come out and run our best two races the last two weeks. We were locked in and ran well, and placed better than where we were ranked coming in. It's always good to be competitive in this race and this regional."

UP NEXT: The 2023 NCAA Division I Men's & Women's Cross Country Selection Show will air Saturday (Nov. 11) at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com. A link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com. The 2023 NCAA Championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Panorama Farms Cross Country Course in Earlysville, Va. The University of Virginia will serve as host.