FULL RESULTS
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Another standout season ended with a record-setting meet as the Northern Kentucky men's and women's cross country teams showed out at the 2023 NCAA Division I Southeast Regionals, hosted by USC Upstate at the Roger Milliken Center on Friday afternoon.
The NKU women tied their best regional team finish in school history and
Sophia DeLisio and
Layla Henderson became the first Norse runners to finish in the top-100 in program history.
On the men's side, NKU posted its best team finish since 2017 and its third-best regional performance all-time.
Natnael Weldemichael also recorded the best Norse individual performance since 2017 with his 37th-place finish overall.
THE BASICS
RESULTS: Men: 23rd (660 points) | Women: 25th (679 points)
MEET: 2023 NCAA Division I Southeast Regionals (hosted by USC Upstate)
LOCATION: Roger Milliken Center – Spartanburg, South Carolina
NOTABLES
- The Northern Kentucky women got the day started with the 6K regional championship race.
- The Norse were paced by DeLisio and Henderson who finished 94th and 98th respectively. Both student-athletes set new personal bests at 21:37.7 and 21:42.3.
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Grace Biddle was right behind in 137th with a time of 22:26.8.
- In her final collegiate cross country race,
Jacquelyn Witt dropped a new personal record of 23:06.1 to take 177th overall.
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Lauren Mang (198th, 23:33.2),
Julia Verhoff (214th, 24:21.9) and
Paige Decker (215th, 24:27.9) rounded things out for the Norse.
- With the strong showing, the NKU women tied their best finish in school history at the NCAA DI Regionals. It was also the first time in program history that the Norse women placed two student-athletes in the top-100 finishers. DeLisio and Henderson now have the two best NKU finishes at Regionals all-time.
- The men kept the excitement going for their 10K championship race.
- Fresh off his strong showing at the Horizon League Championships, Weldemichael led NKU with a 37th-place performance. It was the best finish for a Norse student-athlete since 2017. His time of 30:05.2 was also a new personal best.
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Colton O'Hara made it two Norse in the top-100 as he crossed the line in 97th with a personal record of 31:13.6.
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Jacob Line (163rd, 32:49.1),
Summit Northrup (189th, 33:32.1),
Bryan Stoltzfus (205th, 34:18.5) and
Jacob Messer (216th, 34:57.) all set personal bests.
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Owen Mathews also toed the line and took 197th overall with a time of 34:00.6.
- It was the best finish for the men's squad since 2017 and the third-best showing at the NCAA DI Regionals in program history. It was also the first time since 2017 that the men placed two student-athletes in the top-100.
- This concludes the 2023 campaign for the Norse. The season was another great building-block year for NKU as the Norse look towards a bright future. Both the men's and women's programs return a strong, young core over the next couple years, to go with their incoming freshman classes. The men's group will be headlined by All-Horizon League Second Team honoree
Colton O'Hara and standout
Natnael Weldemichael while the women's squad returns Horizon League Freshman of the Year
Layla Henderson and two-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week
Grace Biddle.
- In total, NKU looks to return 11 student-athletes on the women's side and all 13 members of its men's squad for 2024.
FOLLOW NKU NORSE CROSS COUNTRY
Get in the game and follow Northern Kentucky's NCAA Division I college cross country teams through
@NKUNorseXCTF on Twitter,
@nkunorsexctf on Instagram,
Northern Kentucky University Cross Country/Track & Field on Facebook and
subscribe to the NKU Norse Youtube channel.
