Central Michigan University Athletics
Friday, November 10
Madison, Wis.
12:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. CT
Central Michigan University
vs
NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Photo by: University of Wisconsin Athletics
Paupore Claims All-Region Finish, Cross Country Battles NCAA Regionals
11/10/2023 3:47:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Central Michigan women 12th, best team finish in 20 years; Paupore notches best individual finish 20th since 2014
MADISON, Wis. — Central Michigan Cross Country took another step forward Friday at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships as the Chippewa women landed 12th after a tie with Purdue at 350 points, their best finish in the event in 20 years.
"We gave everything that we had at the [Mid-American Conference] Championship on that day and we were sixth," Head Coach Jenny Swieton offered, "and I think the girls were a little disappointed. They just ran really hard and really well and raced for each other and it was fun to watch today."
Central Michigan landed fourth among Mid-American Conference teams in the event, two spots higher than its finish in the league championship event two weeks ago.
"Today, they were determined to prove that we're at least a fourth-place MAC team and they did that going away with the best finish in 20 years."
Redshirt-junior Emily Paupore (Negaunee, Mich. / Negaunee) led the charge once again with a 20th-place finish in the 6k event (20:57.6), the best for a Chippewa in the regional championship since 2014, good for all-region acclaim. This year's individual MAC Champion worked through the field with another aggressive start, 12th in the field at the 2,000-meter split.
"At MAC, she wanted to win so she knew she wanted to be in it with whoever was in it," Swieton said. "With regionals, the only way you can guarantee your spot [at nationals] is to be in the top ten. The approach being, 'I would rather go for it and fall apart a little bit than not go for it.' She gave everything she had to do that."
As a staple in the program's growth in recent years, Paupore faced a big stage for the Chippewas Friday as the first contender for the NCAA Championship race many years but was ready for the challenge in Swieton's evaluation.
"This is the first time she's went into a meet with this kind of pressure to have a legitimate shot to make nationals. I think she handled that very, very well."
All five scorers for CMU finished inside the top-100 of the 231-runner field. Redshirt-senior Anya Turner (Farmington, Mich. / Harrison) finished 64th (21:40.4), followed by redshirt-junior Natalie Newcombe (Mecosta, Mich. / Chippewa Hills) in 79th, sophomore Jessie Gibbons (Loveland, Ohio / Loveland) in 90th (22:07.9) and freshman Kara Terakedis (Onsted, Mich. / Onsted) in 97th (22:11.1).
This group represents a tale of two programs for the CMU women.
"Anya was on the team when we were last in the MAC in 2019," Swieton pointed out. "The older girls have been the catalyst of the growth of our program. They've had to fight to get here and its super cool for them to see everything that they fought for but it's such a luxury for our younger kids to walk into something that's established. They appreciate the older girls so much that they can hop on the train and go along for the ride."
For the Chippewa men, a 29th-place finish paced by sophomores Blake Chipman (Flushing, Mich. / Flushing) and Ethan Leitner (Tecumseh, Mich. / Tecumseh) just outside the 32-minute mark in the 10k event.
"It was a tough day," Swieton admitted. "The guys gave their all and they worked really hard, but we want to be better. We need to go back to the drawing board to figure out what we need to do to be where we want to be."
Context is key, however, as many men in the field for Central Michigan experienced their first or second attempt at 10k in competition as the regional event is typically the first 10k race of the season.
"It's only their second 10k ever, and that's if they ran at regionals last year," Swieton offered.
The selection show for the 2023 NCAA Championships will be broadcast live at NCAA.com at 5 p.m. Saturday, with Paupore standing on longshot odds to make the event as an at-large selection.
"We gave everything that we had at the [Mid-American Conference] Championship on that day and we were sixth," Head Coach Jenny Swieton offered, "and I think the girls were a little disappointed. They just ran really hard and really well and raced for each other and it was fun to watch today."
Central Michigan landed fourth among Mid-American Conference teams in the event, two spots higher than its finish in the league championship event two weeks ago.
"Today, they were determined to prove that we're at least a fourth-place MAC team and they did that going away with the best finish in 20 years."
Redshirt-junior Emily Paupore (Negaunee, Mich. / Negaunee) led the charge once again with a 20th-place finish in the 6k event (20:57.6), the best for a Chippewa in the regional championship since 2014, good for all-region acclaim. This year's individual MAC Champion worked through the field with another aggressive start, 12th in the field at the 2,000-meter split.
"At MAC, she wanted to win so she knew she wanted to be in it with whoever was in it," Swieton said. "With regionals, the only way you can guarantee your spot [at nationals] is to be in the top ten. The approach being, 'I would rather go for it and fall apart a little bit than not go for it.' She gave everything she had to do that."
As a staple in the program's growth in recent years, Paupore faced a big stage for the Chippewas Friday as the first contender for the NCAA Championship race many years but was ready for the challenge in Swieton's evaluation.
"This is the first time she's went into a meet with this kind of pressure to have a legitimate shot to make nationals. I think she handled that very, very well."
All five scorers for CMU finished inside the top-100 of the 231-runner field. Redshirt-senior Anya Turner (Farmington, Mich. / Harrison) finished 64th (21:40.4), followed by redshirt-junior Natalie Newcombe (Mecosta, Mich. / Chippewa Hills) in 79th, sophomore Jessie Gibbons (Loveland, Ohio / Loveland) in 90th (22:07.9) and freshman Kara Terakedis (Onsted, Mich. / Onsted) in 97th (22:11.1).
This group represents a tale of two programs for the CMU women.
"Anya was on the team when we were last in the MAC in 2019," Swieton pointed out. "The older girls have been the catalyst of the growth of our program. They've had to fight to get here and its super cool for them to see everything that they fought for but it's such a luxury for our younger kids to walk into something that's established. They appreciate the older girls so much that they can hop on the train and go along for the ride."
For the Chippewa men, a 29th-place finish paced by sophomores Blake Chipman (Flushing, Mich. / Flushing) and Ethan Leitner (Tecumseh, Mich. / Tecumseh) just outside the 32-minute mark in the 10k event.
"It was a tough day," Swieton admitted. "The guys gave their all and they worked really hard, but we want to be better. We need to go back to the drawing board to figure out what we need to do to be where we want to be."
Context is key, however, as many men in the field for Central Michigan experienced their first or second attempt at 10k in competition as the regional event is typically the first 10k race of the season.
"It's only their second 10k ever, and that's if they ran at regionals last year," Swieton offered.
The selection show for the 2023 NCAA Championships will be broadcast live at NCAA.com at 5 p.m. Saturday, with Paupore standing on longshot odds to make the event as an at-large selection.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
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