TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's cross country team is going into the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship with intentions of making yet another impactful post-season performance. The Rockets will run a 10K at 11:00 a.m. at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday, Nov. 11.
Toledo posted a runner-up team finish at the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championship meet less than two weeks ago in Athens, Ohio matching its best finish in 42 years as a varsity program. Freshman
Dennis Mutai (fourth) and senior
Mathew Chesum (sixth) were named first-team All-MAC, while juniors
Benjamin Otis (13th) and
Geoff Howles (14th) were named second-team, marking the first time in program history that four runners received all-conference honors in the conference meet.
"The men are looking to come off of our MAC Championship performance and set another Toledo-best finish at the regional championship this weekend," head men's coach Nick Stenuf said. "We've never had a top-10 program in the history of this team at the regional championships, and that's something we're looking to go out and accomplish."
The Rockets will have to push each other to become the first Toledo men's cross country team in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The men's best showing at the regional meet was 11th in 2021. Chesum led Toledo with a 27th-place individual finish, the best finish ever by a Rocket in the new era of the Great Lakes regional system.
"The men are looking poised and ready to get after it, and we're excited to set a new bar as this program continues to grow and improve, year-in and year-out," Stenuf added.
Toledo will be one of 29 men's programs competing at the Great Lakes Regional Championship meet, with the top two teams earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla. An additional 13 schools will be selected from the nine regional as at-large teams. Individually, the top four finishers from each race and two at-large selections from non-qualifying teams will also qualify for nationals.
2022 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Cross Country Championship
Terre Haute, Ind. | LaVerne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Friday, Nov. 19 - 11:00 a.m. | Live Stats
