Beckmann, Boyd Lead CMU At MAC Championships

DEKALB, Ill. – Mark Beckmann and Maddy Boyd led the charge on Saturday for the Central Michigan cross country team in the Mid-American Conference Championships, hosted by Northern Illinois.

Beckmann, a senior, placed 16^th in the men's race, while Boyd finished 35^th in the women's.

The Chippewa men placed fifth out of nine teams, while the CMU women were 12th.

Eastern Michigan swept the team titles.

Men
Beckmann gave his all in the final conference championship race of his career, falling two spots shy of All-MAC honors. He finished in 26:01.4. The top 14 runners earned all-conference honors.

"He really wanted to go out All-MAC and he was really close," CMU coach Jenny Swieton said. "I think he's a little bit bummed, but he gave it everything he had."

Also for the Chippewas, Zachary Sleeman (26:17.0) was 22^nd, Conor Naughton (26:22.4) placed 26^th, Riad Rababeh (26:25.0) came in 27^th, Adam Rzentkowski (26:28.5) finished 31^st, and Will Finch (26:47.6) was 42^nd.
Prior to the meet, Swieton said the Chippewa men would come in with a chip on their shoulders following their performance in last year's MAC meet, when they placed sixth.

"I definitely think it was better," said Swieton. "It's only one place different than last year, but I think overall it was a much better race.

"They ran well, they competed harder, they just executed better. I was really happy with their performance and how they ran."

Women
Boyd, a freshman, stepped up to lead the Chippewa women -- who were without some key runners – in her first conference championship race.

Boyd finished in 23:05.1, a time that placed her fourth among the freshmen in the event. She finished just 16 seconds behind the top freshman, Emily Vining of Toledo.

"Maddy had a good race, smart race," Swieton said. "She moved up throughout and I think that was really good."

Also for the Chippewas, Ana Garcia (23:42.9) finished 64^th, Carissa Gobbi (23:48.9) placed 67^th, and Lauren Beckmann (24:05.4) finished 76^th.
For a young Chippewa team missing some top runners, Swieton knew full well that they would encounter a learning curve in their biggest race of the year.

"As a whole, we just weren't as competitive as we needed to be," she said. "From my perspective today, it looked like we were more afraid to fail than we wanted to succeed. I think that is part of being a really young team and having such high expectations for themselves.

"As they gain confidence, that will improve and they will be able to better handle similar situations in the future."

Winners
Marc Migliozzi, a senior from Akron, won the men's race in 25:15.9. Northern Illinois junior Ashley Tutt won the women's race in 21:18.5.

The EMU men's team finished with 59 points, edging runner-up Miami (Ohio), which had 64. The EMU women's team finished with 60 points to nip NIU (62).

Next
CMU is scheduled to run in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, Nov. 15 in Madison, Wis.

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Players Mentioned

Lauren Beckmann

Mark Beckmann

Maddy Boyd

Carissa Gobbi

Conor Naughton

Riad Rababeh

Adam Rzentkowski

Zachary Sleeman