Cross Country Set For Great Lakes Regional

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State cross country continues the championship season Friday with the NCAA Great Lakes Regional at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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The Spartan women moved up four spots to No. 10 in the most recent United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' poll after finishing second at the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 28 in Lincoln, Nebraska, at Mahoney Golf Course.

"Our energy has been good, and we've had really good practices this week," Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Walt Drenth said. "We're not trying to do anything special, just trying to get back in order after what were really competitive races at the Big Tens. You can really see some progress out of people still and gaining confidence."

Sophomore Maggie Farrell (20:13.7) came in fourth place, and redshirt-senior Erin McDonald (20:16.0) finished seventh to lead MSU at the Big Tens, as the Spartans finished behind only No. 7 Michigan. Friday's women's race begins at 11:15 a.m (ET) and will cover 6,000-meters on the Lavern Gibson Course. 34 teams will run, including five nationally ranked teams in the Wolverines and Spartans, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 14 Indiana and No. 18 Notre Dame.

The men's team is receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll after turning in a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten meet. Redshirt-senior Justine Kiprotich smashed his career-best at the longer cross country distance, covering the 8,000-meter course in 23:44.2 to finish sixth overall.

Farrell, McDonald and Kiprotich each earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for their performances at the conference championships.

Friday's men's race starts at 12:15 p.m. (ET) and will be the first 10,000-meter run of the cross country season. The field consists of 30 teams from across the region and also includes five teams ranked nationally. Big Ten Champion and No. 3 ranked Wisconsin, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 15 Purdue, No. 23 Indiana and No. 27 Michigan.

After feeling like they left some possible points on the board at the Big Tens, this week has been about smoothing out race plans and getting ready for a shot at qualifying for nationals.

"We've had really good meetings this week, especially with the guys, and we talked through some adjustments on how we can grow from the conference meet," Drenth said. "I think we got a little over amped at the conference meet for some of us. We surveyed what we have to do differently and I'm looking forward to the weekend."

This will mark the sixth time that the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet has been held in Terre Haute. The tradition began in 1998 and continued in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The meet returned to the Wabash Valley for the first time since 2003 in 2017. Known as XC Town USA, Terre Haute has hosted the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships 12 times beginning in 2002 and continuing every year from 2004-2011 and then again in 2013, 2014 and 2016. The National Championship Meet returns again to Terre Haute in 2019.

"It's one of the best cross country courses in the country," Drenth said. "It's fair, has good spacing, and challenging because it has good hills. It's well run and they do a great job with the meet. Just an outstanding experience for a championship event."

The Great Lakes Regional will be carried live on FloTrack with a subscription required to watch. Results will be posted to msuspartans.com after the conclusion of the races.

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Players Mentioned

Maggie Farrell

Justine Kiprotich

Erin McDonald