2022 D3 XC: Great Lakes Regional Preview

When the Midwest humidity pushes heat indices above 100 degrees as it has lately in the Great Lakes region of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky, it can be hard to will oneself out the door for a run. Sweat burns your eyes and incapacitates your phone’s touch screen, your shirt is ready for a good wring-out after one mile, and your watch tells you this effort (a measly five-mile jog) was “harder than usual.” 

But that’s when through squinted eyes you envision the prize before you: twenty-odd minutes of pure fitness as you feel your spikes dig into the grass and you reel in that cross country nemesis who always beat you last year. The suffering you feel now fades in the face of future glory. 

Such is the current grind for incoming and returning athletes to the Great Lakes Region this year. Known for both its depth and individual success, this region has steadily branded itself as one of the more competitive regional assignments in the country. Last year at the NCAA Championships, it boasted the men’s national champion and fifth place finisher, the men’s fourth place team, the fourth and eleventh place female finishers, and eight total All-Americans. Four men’s teams and six women’s teams made it out of the region to compete at the championships for a total of 10 Great Lakes teams, making this region tied with the East region for the most teams represented at the NCAA meet in 2021.

Several key Great Lakes returners and newcomers will look to carry on this legacy of excellence throughout the regular season, as well as make a push in the post-season to become some of the nation’s best cross country athletes and teams. 

Men’s Region

The most notable team to look out for is that of John Caroll, who comes off a tremendous NCAA outdoor track  meet in which they garnered a runner-up finish behind Wisconsin Eau-Claire. Of their 48-point total, 40 points were scored by distance athletes. Of these athletes, three will return, including 2021 XC national champion Alex Phillip, who will embark on his send-off year at John Carroll before pursuing a postgraduate career at a D1 institution. 

Shockingly, the remaining two athletes, Cormac Peppard-Kramer and Ethan Domitrovich, both All-Americans in the steeplechase last spring, were not part of the fourth place scoring JCU fall squad as they ran different rosters at regionals and nationals. If this were football, it’d be like having two All-Americans in your second-string lineup. What does that say about your first string lineup?

A team known for their depth in the distance events, JCU is certain to make a splash this fall. With the loss of key contributors like Jamie Dailey, an XC All-American and 5k national champion, and multi-time national qualifier Ian Pierson, younger members Ryan Champa, Barrett Scheatzle, Adam Shah, Jack Root, and Dominic Delmoro will certainly have to raise their game to help JCU bring home another NCAA team trophy. 

Behind John Carroll, the squad from Otterbein looks to be shaping up for another promising season. After a second place finish at the regional meet last year, this squad returns All-American Cal Yackin, as well as All-Region performers Bill Daily (who was 65th at NCAAs) and John Nice. To their roster, they add 16:03 5k and 4:16 1600 man Jay Figgins as well as 15:51 5ker Ian Clevinger, both of whom could make an impact in their first year. 

Placing third last year was the squad from Case Western, who will return three-time national qualifier Jack Begley, as well as All-Region recipients Logan Singer and Rob. St. Clair. The loss of third place finisher Trey Razanauskas hurts this squad slightly in the team scores, but with the addition of some new talent and another year of experience for younger members, this team is certainly in contention for another top-3 finish and trip back to NCAAs.

Rounding out the men’s national-qualifying teams from the Great Lakes was the team from Calvin, whose young team shows big promise heading into the fall. They invite back all but one member, Noah Cummisford, of their regional squad from last year, and have a strong front runner in Brandan Knepper, who was ninth at last year’s regional meet.

This will be the first time in 36 years that the Knights will line up without the tutelage of legendary coach Brian Diemer. They will instead be led by Coach Nicole Kramer, who was named Head Cross Country Coach in May. No stranger to national excellence, Kramer was an athlete on Calvin’s All-America DMR team, as well as a contributor to four top-four NCAA women’s cross country team finishes, including one NCAA runner-up finish. As she rejoins the ranks with her alma mater, one that is rich in history with success on the cross country course, it will be fun to see where Kramer takes both teams at Calvin. 

On the individual front, four of the seven individual 2021 national qualifiers will return to competition this fall. These include Berea’s Luke Wilson, Wilmington’s Simon Heys, and Mount Union’s Jeff Joseph and Vince Giumenti. 

Heys was fifth overall at the national meet last fall in his first ever cross country national meet, and became Wilmington College’s first ever cross country All-American. He and regional-mate Phillip (first) tied for highest combined duo placing (six) of any other region. Williams duo Elias Lindgren and Aidan Ryan of the Mideast region were second and fourth overall. 

Mount, who was the first team out of the NCAA meet last year, will look to improve upon their fifth place finish last year. They add to their lineup 3200m Ohio D2 state champion Chris Tooms who will look to make an impact in his first year and could finish just outside the top 10. 

Other first-years of note include Hope College freshmen Carston Cole, an All-State performer in the largest high school division in Michigan with a 3200m PR of 9:11, and Owen Harries, an All-State performer from South Carolina, with a 5k cross country PR of 15:41. 

Men’s Great Lakes Team Predictions:

1. John Carroll

2. Otterbein

3. Case Western

4. Calvin

5. Mount Union

Men’s Great Lakes Individual Predictions:

1. Alex Phillip (JCU)

2. Simon Heys (Wilmington)

3. Cal Yackin (Otterbein)

4. Cormac Peppard-Kramer (JCU)

5. Jack Begley (Case)

6. Brandan Knepper (Calvin)

7. Jeff Joseph (Mount)

8. Luke Wilson (Berea)

9. John Nice (Otterbein)

    10.   Ethan Domitrovich (JCU)

Women’s Region

The women’s region was the deepest in the nation last year, advancing six teams to the national meet, the most of any other region across the country. Several notable returners will toe the line this fall and the absence of a few frontrunners will leave the door wide open for this year’s individual regional champion. 

In the team battle, 2021 champions Hope College return a strong roster, including last year’s regional runner-up Ana Tucker, who will look to be the favorite this year after regional champion and two-time top-10 NCAA finisher Evie Miller of Trine graduated last Spring. Tucker is also a two-time All-American, having placed 11th at last year’s NCAA meet, but has never won a Great Lakes regional title. If she can put together a healthy fall, she could garner her very first one. 

In total, Hope will return 6 of their seven regional competitors from last year’s squad, including Tucker as well as All-Regional performers Rebecca Markham and Ellie Jankowski. The squad also adds some promising new blood in Oakland transfer Taylor Conner, who has a high school cross country PR of 18:50 and Madison Stern, a D1 all-state performer in the state of Michigan with PRs of 18:31 and 4:59 in the 5k and 1600m, respectively. 

Calvin, the women’s team runner-up at Regionals last year, graduates frontrunner and cross country All-American Sadie Heeringa (she’ll be competing for Arizona State in the fall), but returns everyone else from their national lineup last year, including Sienna Ruiter-Diaz, who placed 60th at the NCAA meet last year. Calvin will have to rely heavily on experience if they want a shot at taking down Hope this year. 

The squad from John Carroll was third at Regionals last year, but returns a solid top four in 10k All-American Cameron Bujaucius, multi-time NCAA qualifier Sydney Jenko, 10k national qualifier Erica Esper, and second-year Sarah Weldon, who made JCU’s varsity as a freshman. 

Case Western, Trine, and Allegheny, the remaining three teams who advanced out of the Great Lakes Region last year, will have to fight hard for another spot on the NCAA start line. They placed 25th, 28th, and 30th at the national meet last year, which could raise questions from other regions about whether taking six teams out of the Great Lakes was the right call. Teams like Mount Holyoke out of the Mideast region were right at the cusp of qualifying last year and could look to solidify their spot this year. Ohio Northern also returns a strong roster from last year, including All-Region finishers Tessa Pitcovich and Taylor Ellerbrock, and will look to finish within the top five. It will be vital for teams to beat competitors outside of their region throughout the year in order to help strengthen their case for selection in November.

Of the individual qualifiers last year, Ohio Northern’s Pitcovich, Baldwin Wallace’s Hope Murphy, Albion’s Megan McCulloch, and Manchester’s Elizabeth Lohman will return to the start line. None of these individuals have earned cross country All-American honors, so are sure to have their sights on the top 40 this year. 

Another individual of significant note is Franciscan’s Alison Bryant, who placed 75th at the NCAA meet as an individual last year, but will don a purple Loras jersey this year. In cross country, Loras is currently best known for frontrunner Kassie Parker, who captured the 2021 national title last fall. With the return of Parker and addition of Bryant, Loras could close the gap on Midwest region power teams Wartburg, U of Chicago, and Wash U and secure their spot at the national meet as a team this year. 

Women’s Great Lakes Team Predictions:

1. Hope

2. John Carroll

3. Calvin

4. Allegheny

5. Ohio Northern

Women’s Great Lakes Individual Predictions:

1. Ana Tucker (Hope)

2. Tessa Pitcovich (Ohio Northern)

3. Hope Murphy (BW)

4. Sienna Ruiter-Diaz (Calvin)

5. Erica Esper (JCU)

6. Megan Aaron (Allegheny)

7. Rebecca Markham (Hope)

8. Megan McCulloch (Albion)

9. Cameron Bujaucius (JCU)

10. Meghan Owens (Centre)

Though momentum from last year’s season is sure to have some pull headed into this year, anything can happen when competition starts at the end of the month. As athletes run their final miles and pack their cars in preparation for moving back to campus, they start the 2022 cross country season with sweat on their brows and promise in their hearts.