Cross Country Primed for NCAA Midwest Regionals

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Cross Country will run at the 2023 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater Oklahoma Friday Nov. 10th.

The women’s 6k race will begin at 10:30 a.m. while the men’s 10k race follows shortly after at 11:30.

The Tigers wish to continue with their strong postseason efforts coming out of the 2023 Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 27th.

Sophomore Austin Popplewell and senior Jenna Schwartz found themselves at the forefront of Missouri’s success to help their team advance. Schwartz makes her second appearance at the Midwest Regionals looking to improve her time from last year.

Missouri returns three runners from the men’s race last season who participated in the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships. Sophomore Drew Rodgers and juniors Blake Morris and Jack Warner are all looking to better their 10k times from a season ago.

The women’s race features four Tiger athletes who will be returning to the Midwest Regional stage once again. Juniors Isabelle Christiansen and Kelsey Schweizer are seeking to improve their efforts from last year as they were the second and sixth Tiger to cross the finish line. Sophomore Kaia Downs was not far behind as she claimed the spot as the only freshman for the Tigers to place in the Regional Championships.

The 2023 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships are split up into nine different regions across the country where each team in their respective region has the chance to send runners to the 2023 NCAA Cross Country National Championships.

The top two teams in each region automatically qualify for the championship round while 13 at-large bids are also granted by the DI Cross Country Subcommittee. These are reserved for teams who do not qualify in the top two spots in their region but still have a performance worthy of a national championship appearance. In addition, individual runners can advance to the national championships if they are one of the first four runners to finish in the top 25, while not belonging to a team who already qualified. 

This will be the Tiger’s second time in five years traveling to Stillwater as a team for the Midwest Regional Championships. Their last appearance was in 2019 when the women’s team took fifth place and the men’s team finished in tenth.

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