WICHITA, Kan. (KCACSports.com) — The 2024 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, November 9. Hosted by the University of Saint Mary, the meet will be held on the Spires’ on-campus home course. The following is a meet preview written by meet announcer and long-time contributor to the KCAC, Carol Swenson.
2024 KCAC Cross Country Championships Preview
by Carol R Swenson, Meet Announcer
The men’s eight-kilometer race is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. followed by the women’s six-kilometer race going to the starting line at 11:30 a.m. 2024 will mark just the second season the women will contest the championship meet distance of six-kilometers.
Saint Mary head coach Alstin Benton describes the course as follows: “The course is a difficult, true cross-country course with varying terrain. The starting chute is 400 meters long prior to the first turn. The runners will run areas of grass, dirt, and mulch while traversing hills of varying distance with the most daunting hill nearing 170m long with a grade of nearly 10% during portions of the ascent. The women will run this hill twice while the men will encounter it three times.
The course consists of a main loop of approximately 2,500m with an add-on loop of 500 meters. The women will run the main loop, including the add-on loop, twice for the full 6k.
The men will run the main loop three times with the add-on loop only on the final lap for the full 8k course.
The course is spectator friendly. While the runners will go out of view for 3 to 4 minutes on the western portion of the main loop per a lap, spectators will see them come over the hill and work their way back down towards the finish area with the women passing the spectator area three times and the men five times plus the start and finish run-in.”
The top 10 finishers in the women’s and men’s races in the KCAC Championship Meet are designated All-KCAC First Team, with the finishers in 11th through 20th places will be designated as All-KCAC Second Team.
QUALIFYING PROCEDURE FOR THE NAIA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
In addition to determining the 2024 KCAC individual and team champions, the meet will serve as the KCAC qualifying meet for the 45th Annual Women’s and 69th Annual Men’s NAIA National Cross Country Championships which will be held November 22nd on the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri. (Complete qualifying standards for the National Championships are below.)
For conferences with more than 12 scoring schools (five to seven runners finishing), two automatic team berths are given only if the second team is rated among the top 30 in the final regular season NAIA poll to be released Monday, November 12th. In addition to the qualifying team(s), the top six (6) individual finishers not on a qualifying team finishing among the KCAC’s top 20 scoring finishers will also qualify for the NAIA National meet.
If less than 12 schools have scoring teams (at least five runners finishing), the conference will receive only one automatic berth plus four (4) individuals in the top 15 scoring finishers not on a qualifying team.
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
For the sixth time in the past seven editions of the KCAC Championships, the University of Saint Mary ran away with the women’s team championship in 2023. The win marked the Spires’ seventh overall championship as they placed all seven scoring runners among the first 13 finishers, totaling only 16 points, which tied the 2011 Friends women for the lowest team score in KCAC championship history.
Entering this year’s Championships, the University of Saint Mary women are currently rank #3 after having climbed to a season high of #2 in the NAIA national poll, while Kansas Wesleyan currently ranks #15, and Evangel is receiving votes, tied for 27th.
With eight of their top 10 finishers returning from 2023, all of which were among the top 20 KCAC finishers and earned All-KCAC honors, and with seven of the top eight season-best performances for 2024, the USM Spires women will enter this year’s Championships as the favorite for another team title, and with a realistic shot at setting a new KCAC championship team score record with a perfect team score of 15 points. Kansas Wesleyan’s up-front trio appears to be enough to carry the Coyotes to the possible second automatic team berth at the NAIA National Championships ahead of Evangel with Tabor and Friends battling for the third.
Six of the top 10 individual finishers from the 2023 KCAC Championships are eligible to return this fall led by defending champion Reagan Hiebert (Saint Mary) and two-time KCAC individual champion Riley Hiebert (Saint Mary), who was 2nd in 2023. Natalia Quiroz (Oklahoma Wesleyan, 7th) is the only returner from last season who was able to break up the Spires’ top five returning scorers, which include Kate Madsen (Saint Mary, 4th), Carlie Gregg (Saint Mary, 6th), and Josie Tyrrell (Saint Mary, 10th). Kansas Wesleyan returns a pair of top-12 place winners in Josie Koppes (11th) and Madisyn Ehrlich (12th). The KWU duo crossed the finish just ahead of Monse Guerrero-Chapula (Saint Mary, 13th) and Macy Kopp (Evangel, 14th). Charlee Lind (Kansas Wesleyan, 18th), Abigail White (Saint Mary, 19th) and Jessa Cassity (Saint Mary, 20th) will round out the 2023 Honorable Mention All-KCAC honorees eligible to return.
Only three women in KCAC history have won three individual KCAC cross county titles (Kathy Boone ’85-‘87, Lisa Buller ’91, ’93-‘94, and Carrie Cook ’95-‘97, all from Southwestern). It will be interesting to see if Riley Hiebert can rebound from her second place finish in 2023 to the front of the pack and become the KCAC’s fourth three-time winner.
For the second straight year, it is Reagan Hiebert (Saint Mary) will enter the conference championships leading the KCAC women’s season-best performance list, with her time of 21:31.41 from the Blazing Tiger Classic on October 26. USM teammates hold the next five spots on the conference list as Riley Hiebert and Kate Madsen come in as the only other KCAC runners to best the 22-minute mark for the six-kilometer distance, followed by teammates Monse Guerrero-Chapula, Josie Tyrell, and Shannen Dorn. The first non-Spire on the top 10 season best list is Madisyn Ehrlich of Kansas Wesleyan, who ranks seventh, and sandwiches Abigail White (Saint Mary) with Coyote teammates Kierra Jensen and Josie Koppes rounding out the yearly top 10.
Numbers 11 through 20 on the yearly list are led by Carly Holadia (Saint Mary), the final sub-23-minute performer and two more non-scoring Spires, Jessa Cassity, and Carlie Gregg, plus four Evangel Valors led by Julia Rust’s 23:00.02, ranked 12th, Skylar Adams 16th, Emily Harris 19th, and Macy Kopp 20th. Three additional KWU Coyotes, Charlee Lind, Kirstin Hackney, and Alayna Behrman, break up the Evangel group in positions 15th, 17th and 18th.
Eyeing a top 20 finish in the conference race and a possible national qualifying finish beyond the KCAC’s two likely NAIA qualifying teams are Adrienne Selzer (Tabor), Natalia Quiroz (Oklahoma Wesleyan), and Julianna Maxfield (Tabor).
It is interesting to note that the entire KCAC top-20 season best performance list and 33 of the top 35 season-best times for KCAC women this season came at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic, hosted by Doane University and the College of Saint Mary on the Mahoney State Park course at Ashland, Nebraska. With six of the NAIA’s top 20 nationally ranked schools participating at the Blazing Tiger Classic, University of Saint Mary took home the team title, winning over current #6 College of Idaho, #8 Dordt (Iowa), #15 Kansas Wesleyan, #18 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), and #20 Benedictine (Kan.) plus #22 Mount Mercy, along with Evangel, Doane, and College of Saint Mary, all of which are receiving national poll votes.
2024 Equity Bank KCAC Women’s Cross Country Runners of the Week:
9/02 Reagan Hiebert (Saint Mary) – USM Sunset Showdown
9/16 Julia Rust (Evangel) – Springfield Allison Sports Invitational
10/14 Reagan Hiebert (Saint Mary) – U Mo-St Louis Brian Simpson
10/28 Reagan Hiebert (Saint Mary) – Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic
MEN’S PREVIEW
Nothing appears to have changed in the past 12 months as the University of Saint Mary Spires men will again enter the KCAC Championships as the favorite, on course to win a 12th-straight KCAC team crown. The Spires placed all seven of their scorers among the first 10 finishers as they ran away with the 2023 KCAC team title with a perfect score of 15, 44 points ahead of second-place Kansas Wesleyan, with Tabor another 14 points back.
The depth of the 2023 Spires was “scary,” as five more non-scoring Spires placed among the first 20 KCAC finishers. How deep? If schools were allowed multiple scoring teams in the team title race, USM would have placed first and second. The Spires followed up their 11th-straight KCAC title by finishing 2nd at the 2023 NAIA National Championship, where they were led by Emad Bashir-Mohammed’s 3rd place finish with 2024 returners Dominick Beine (19th), Ryan Heline (25th), Chris Metz (26th), and Brig Merritt (34th), while Kansas Wesleyan placed 14th, led by Damion Jackson’s 37th place finish.
Saint Mary is currently ranked #5 in the latest NAIA national poll after being ranked as high as #3 earlier this season, with Kansas Wesleyan currently ranked #17 after reaching a previous 2024 high of #16.
The top returner from the 2023 KCAC Championship is Chris Metz (Saint Mary), whose 2nd place finish was followed by returnees Ryan Heline (Saint Mary, 3rd) and Dominick Beine (4th), while Kaden Cooley (Saint Mary, 6th) and Dawson Adams (Saint Mary, 11th) sandwiched Kansas Wesleyan returnees Damion Jackson (8th) and Austin Hess (9th). Seven more possible returnees placed among the top 20 finishers from 2023 including four Spires (Tommy Baker, 13th; Daniel Pantoja, 15th; Kenneth Howell, 16th; Luis Perez 18th), two Tabor Bluejays (Nicholas Green, 17th; Logan Dybowski, 19th), and Evangel’s Joshua Rust (14th).
This season’s favorite for the KCAC individual title appears to be three-time Equity Bank KCAC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week Dominick Beine (Saint Mary), along with Spire teammate and KCAC newcomer Aleksandt Krikov. Beine ran the KCAC’s leading time for 2024 while placing fourth at the Blazing Tiger Classic, where the top nine on the KCAC’s top 10 season-best performance list all ran season bests. In addition, for the KCAC’s 2024 team favorites, the Blazing Tiger Classic produced nine of the Spires’ top 10 and seven of Kansas Wesleyan’s top eight season best marks.
Four men enter the KCAC Championship weekend with season best performances under 25-minutes for the 8-kilometer distance, led by USM Spires’ Beine (24:35.36), Krikov (24:43.01), and Chris Metz (24:47.78). Kansas Wesleyan’s Julian Metz (24:58.70) is the final male under 25-minutes, and leads two other Coyotes, Damion Jackson (25:02.52) and Austin Hess (25:03.89), closing in on the 25-minute barrier. With the University of Saint Mary occupying the next six positions on the KCAC 8k yearly list, all under 25:30.00, it will be a tall task for another team to challenge the Spires for the team title.
A year ago, a time 25:48.61 was needed to earn All-KCAC top 20 honors. With 20 KCAC competitors having already run faster than 26:00 for the 8-kilometer distance this fall, it will likely take an similar time to earn conference honors this year. Chasing individual NAIA qualifying spots outside the NAIA National qualifying teams (i.e., if 12 scoring teams go to the line) will likely be Evangel University’s Ethan Montgomery and Joshua Rust, McPherson’s Brock Lauer, and Friends’ Justin Holak, along with Tabor’s Logan Dybowski, Justin Morwood, and Matthew Veloz.
It is evident that everyone is again chasing the Spires’ men in the team title race. With 10 runners among the KCAC’s top 15 season best times and running on their home course, it would appear likely that the Spires will earn the top spot on the podium again. Kansas Wesleyan appears to have sufficient up-front depth to hold off Evangel in the battle for any second KCAC berth in the 2024 national championships at Columbia, Missouri, in two weeks.
The USM Spires’ current streak of 11 straight KCAC team titles rank second only to Southwestern College’s string of 31 consecutive team titles from 1980 to 2010.
2024 Equity Bank KCAC Men’s Cross Country Runners of the Week:
9/02 Dominick Beine (Saint Mary) – USM Sunset Showdown
9/16 Ethan Montgomery (Saint Mary) – Springfield Allison Sports Invitational
10/14 Dominick Beine (Saint Mary) – U Mo-St Louis Brian Simpson
10/28 Dominick Beine (Saint Mary) – Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic
