TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo women's cross country team enters the 2022 season as the defending MAC Women's Cross Country Champions. The Rockets captured their first conference title since 2014, seventh in program history, making up for the runner-up finish at the 2020 conference meet.
The Rockets return the six of their top seven runners from the 2021 MAC Championships team, including meet winner and Freshman of the Year Joy Chirchir. Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Andrea Grove McDonough brings in 13 new runners who should add depth and make the team even stronger.
Seniors Lou Trois, Jordyn Boyer, and Emily Vining, as well as junior Margrett Watt will serve as team captains this season.
Those top-returning runners include the team's point scorers from the 2021 MAC Championships – Joy Chirchir, Faith Linga, Lou Trois, Emily Vining and Madeline Vining. Chirchir (first), Linga (fifth), and Trois (seventh) earned first-team All-MAC honors following the race. Other top returning veterans include Morgan Hicks, Julia Dames, and Claire Steigerwald.
New additions to the program include 2022 Cross Country Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year Karina James, three-time New York State Runner of the Year Ella Kurto, and two-time Illinois Kane County Chronicle Girl's Athlete of the Year Lianna Surtz.
Transfers Elizabeth Acheson and Alex Bauer will also bring intensity and more collegiate experience to the rockets' squad.
Acheson, a graduate student transfer from Division II University of Mary, was an all-American and three-time conference champion in track & field. Bauer, a sophomore transfer, came in 13th at the 2021 Great Midwest Cross Country Championships for Division II Walsh University.
The Rockets look forward to six meets this season, visiting Ohio (Sept. 2), Indiana State (Sept. 17), Oklahoma State (Sept. 24), Notre Dame (Oct. 1), Wisconsin (Oct. 14), and Wayne State (Oct. 22).
The MAC Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, Oct. 29 in Athens, Ohio and will be followed by the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday, Nov. 11.
The final race of the year will be the NCAA Championship Meet hosted by Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. on Saturday, Nov. 19.
