The men and women’s cross country season came to an end this weekend in Evansville, Indiana, following the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional meet on Saturday.

The top five men’s teams and the top six women’s teams at the meet qualify for the NCAA Championships.

As a team, the men placed eighth while the women finished in 12^th place. 

Grand Valley State University’s men and women, who have won 14 straight GLIAC titles, also won the regional team titles.

“The biggest thing for them is that they have such incredible depth,” said assistant coach Jeremy Wilk. “Their number one through 20 (runners) are all very good so if they have someone get injured, they have someone to take their place. They are dominate because they are interchangeable and have a large margin for error.”

Senior David Knack held the top place among the Eagle men finishing 16^th in the 10K course. Knack also earned the 2015 All-Region status from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Freshman Steven Kapes placed 39^th and Aubrey Jordan placed 45^th. Also in the top five for the AU men’s pack was junior Jonathan Albaugh who came in 62^nd and senior Will Cutler who placed 66^th for the meet.

“With the men it was hard, because we only missed qualifying by 16 points,” said Scott. “The points were so close but I was happy with how they performed some having season and lifetime bests.”

On the women’s side, senior Anna Mion crossed the finish line in 35^th place for the 6K course.

“On our women’s side, I knew we were going to have to average 40 points for our top five,” said head coach Tim Scott. “Anna was right were we needed her to be. The other group had a really good pack but they weren’t where they needed to be (to qualify).”

Despite not qualifying, the women tallied also three lifetime bests and six season bests for their squad.

“They ran fast, but our region is so competitive,” said Scott. “I’m proud of them, they worked hard and it showed with their times at the Regional Meet. When you are competing against the best in the country, its just tough.”

Senior Kylee Bernthisel finished 65^th, while junior Jackie Genetin came in 68^th, freshman Emily Schumaker placed 70^th and senior Marissa Sinko finished in 71^st place.

“Our top five girls and our top five guys placed in the top third of the Regional Meet,” said Scott. “As long as they have the grades, they will all qualify to receive Academic All-Americans, which is also a very cool thing.”

Now that the cross-country season has come to a close, the team has their mind set on the track and field season. The team uses the fall season to get some endurance work for track and track to get speed work for cross-country.

Scott and Wilk will continue to work with the athletes who run the 800-meter all the way up to the 10K.

“We will both work collectively on the 800 all the way up the 10K, so we’ve got a good range,” said Scott. “Jeremy and I have pretty good experience in those events and have raced them collegiately before.”

Going into the season the same as always, Scott and Wilk share the similar goal of getting their athletes qualified to the NCAA tournament and look to help their athletes break Ashland records.