Chippewa's So Close at Great Lakes Regional

        This past weekend the Central Michigan Chippewa’s cross country team ran at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chippewa’s gave it a valiant effort, but saw their season come to an end as the meet came to a close.  The Chippewa women team scored a total of 314 points tying Butler for 12^th place at the meet. Kirsten Olling led the women’s team with 32^nd place finish out of 215 runners.  Her finishing time was a fast 21 minutes and 19.4 seconds.  Olling was followed by freshman Megan O’Neil in 57^th, junior Kelly Schubert in 59^th, freshman Samantha Allmacher taking 77^th, senior Alyssa Dyer in 89th, sophomore Hannah Davis in 128th, and junior Esther Bell in 131^st. Coach Kaczor stated that “at the MAC meet we were third by one point. Here today we lose four places by eight points. Really what it’s going to boil down to is (our runners) getting a fire in them and being more competitive. For them to get into that next level they’ve got to be thinking next-level things.”

            The Chippewa men’s team finished 15^th with a total of 376 points at the meet. It was the seniors Nate Ghena and Silas Dekalita who led the Chippewa’s men’s team at the meet. Freshman Luke Anderson was the Number 3 runner as he had a strong performance at his first 10k meet ever. Ghena finished 26th with a 31:25.2, DeKalita was 61st in 32:17.6, and Anderson was 80th pulling a 32:37.2. Ghena was so close to earning All-Region honors, as he finished one spot outside the qualifications. Ghena is in his final season as a Chippewa cross country runner. Coach Kaczor had touching thoughts about Ghena’s final race stating “you think about all the work he’s put in and how far he’s come from not being a cross country runner in high school.” Kaczor also said “it would have been awesome for him to come home with all-regional. That would have been a pretty amazing accomplishment.” Although the Chippewa’s cross country team had a fantastic season, they look to get stronger for next year.

Source: http://cmuchippewas.cstv.com/sports/m-xc/spec-rel/111315aaa.html

 Written by Kahari Vidro