Paupore, Rzentkowski Lead Cross Country At Regional

Friday, November 11

Terre Haute, Ind.

10 a.m.

Central Michigan University

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Photo by: Kat Fulcher

11/11/2022 2:55:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Chippewa women place 17th, men come in 24th

By: Andrew Seavey, CMUChippewas.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Emily Paupore placed 69th in the women's race and Adam Rzentkowski finished 65th in the men's event on Friday to lead the Central Michigan cross country team at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, hosted by Indiana State University, at Laverne Gibson Course.

Paupore finished with a time of 20:46.6 to lead CMU to a 17th-place finish among 31 teams in the women's race. Rzentkowski came across the finish in 31:29.8 as the CMU men finished 24th out of 29 teams.

Notre Dame won the women's event and Wisconsin won the men's team title.

"On the women's side it was everything we hoped for," CMU Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jenny Swieton said. "We did better than we did at the (Mid-American Conference) Championships and we did better than we did last year (at the regional), so we definitely took a step forward today, which is huge."

Also for the CMU women, Anya Turner placed 100th in 21.20.6; Jessie Gibbins came in 103rd in 21:21.6; Jelena Prescott was 110th in 21:26.9; and Maija Rettelle placed 131st in 21.44.2.

Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame won the women's race with a time of 19:00.0.

"The women did a really good job of putting themselves out there and really going for it," Swieton said. "They maintained that confidence when they put themselves in a position that really hurts, or in a position that they weren't sure they could hold. That was really good for us and exactly what we needed to do to end the season."

Prescott and Gibbins, Swieton said, "worked really well together the whole race. They swooped up a little bit and really worked well to move the team forward. I was really impressed with their teamwork."

For the CMU men, Blake Chipman finished 117th in 32:28.5; Gabe Goosen came in 134th in 32:54.4; Owen Howard placed 138th in 32:58.9; and Carson White placed 163rd in 33:51.4.

"I think Carson White had a really good day," Swieton said. "He ended up being our No. 5 today which was huge. Going from an alternate for the MAC Championship to competing at the regional was big for us."

The men competed in a 10K, up from the regular-season 8K distance.

"On the men's side it just wasn't our day," Swieton said. "The guys went for it, but we just had a lot of guys who were running their first 10K. Mentally they weren't necessarily ready, because it was their first one, but also physically their volume hasn't been super high yet because they are freshmen."

Swieton said the experience will help propel the Chippewas forward next year, as many of the younger runners continue to gain experience.

"Learning to give ourselves a chance and being more fearless will help us moving forward because they did that and it kind of worked," Swieton said. "So hopefully next year we will be doing that at a higher level. The experience we get from the ups of the season and the downs of the season will help us moving forward."