Youngstown State University
NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships
Penguins Set Sights on NCAA Great Lakes Regional
11/8/2023 12:35:00 PM | Cross Country
The Youngstown State men's and women's cross country programs will continue postseason action at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Madison, Wisc. on Friday, Nov. 10.
The meet, hosted by Wisconsin, will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The races will begin with the women's 6k at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. CT) followed by the men's 10k at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. CT).
Penguin Participants
Women's 6k:
Alyssa Deeds
Alayna Cuevas
Hannah Wagner
Grace Rhoades
Men's 10k:
Hunter Christopher
Ryan Meadows
Thomas Caputo
Blaze Fichter
Owen Brady
Sage Vavro
Tyler Clark
Ty Coon
Luke Baun
Last Time Out
The Penguins were last in action in a historic outing at the Horizon League Championships on Oct. 28. The men's program earned back-to-back conference titles, marking the first time the men's squad had done since joining the Horizon League in 2001.
The men's team finished with just 31 points as five Penguins earned top-11 spots and six ran sub-25 minutes in the 8k race. Hunter Christopher and Ryan Meadows led the Penguins with a one-two finish.
Christopher earned the first individual cross country title of his career after finishing runner-up in 2021 and fourth in 2022. Christopher sealed his victory with an impressive time of 24:04.17 in the men's 8k, finishing 10 seconds ahead of the other runners.
Meadows finished runner-up behind Christopher with a time of 24:13.65 as the Penguins amazingly took the two top spots to fuel their victory.
Thomas Caputo was the Penguins' third finisher, picking up an eighth-place finish. Caputo ran a personal-best time of 24:35.30 to help the Penguins to the team title. Right behind Caputo was redshirt-freshman Sage Vavro in ninth, clocking a personal-best time of 24:36.22. Rounding out the scoring effort for YSU was redshirt-freshman Blaze Fichter who finished 11th with a time of 24:42.26.
Following their impressive performances, Christopher and Meadows were named First Team All-Horizon League while Caputo, Vavro, and Fichter were earned Second Team honors. Additionally, Vavro was named Freshman of the Year and is just the second Penguin in program history to earn the honor.
The women's team placed fifth at the Horizon League Meet, led by Morgan Cole who placed runner-up and was named First Team All-Horizon League. Cole ran one of the best times of her career in the women's 6k, clocking a 20:50.90. Cole placed in the top six for the fifth consecutive time of her career at the Horizon League Championships.
Alyssa Deeds was the next Penguin to cross the line, finishing 16th. Deeds ran a personal-best time of 21:57.27, besting her personal record by nearly 20 seconds.
Hannah Wagner was the third Penguin to cross the line, delivering a time of 23:01.39 to finish 37th. Freshman Grace Rhoades was close behind in 39th, running a time of 23:05.26. Rounding out the Penguins' scoring effort was Alayna Cuevas who clocked a 23:07.14 for 42nd.
Men's Regional Ranking
The YSU men's team has remained ranked in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Coaches' Poll throughout the 2023 cross country season. Currently ranked 10th, the Penguins sit ahead of Ohio State and Indiana. Wisconsin was polled to win the regional, followed by Butler and Notre Dame. The Top-15 ranked teams in the Great Lakes on the men's side of action are listed below:
- Wisconsin
- Butler
- Notre Dame
- Michigan
- Michigan State
- Purdue
- Akron
- Toledo
- Miami (Ohio)
- Youngstown State
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- IUPUI
- Cincinnati
- Oakland
This season, the Penguin men have been ranked as high as ninth in the poll on Sept. 18 and Sept. 25 and have remained in the top 12 in each of the region's six polls in 2023.
Up Next
The Great Lakes Regional and eight other regional meets happening across the country will determine who qualifies to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships taking place in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 18. The top two teams at the Great Lakes regional will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships and the top four individual finishers not a part of the qualifying teams/at-large bids will also earn spots to compete in Charlottesville next week.
