The Wayne State men’s and women’s cross-country teams went down to Joplin, Mo. on Saturday to compete in the NCAA DII regional cross-country meet. 

“The weather was actually decent down there,” Coach Marlon Brink said. “It was almost a little bit too warm actually for distance running.” 

The Wayne State women’s cross-country team finished 22nd out of 31 teams in the meet. It is the Wildcats best finish at the regional meet in over a decade since they placed 21st in 2011. 

“Yeah, I mean, it was nice to finish where we did,” Brink said. “Honestly, we had our sights set a little bit higher than that. We were hoping for a top-20 finish.” 

The Wildcats’ fastest time was Brooke Solomon, who finished 105th at a time of 23:08 on the 6000-meter course.  

“Brooke had been injured last year when she ran down there and she improved by a huge amount this year which really isn’t even fair to compare the two because like I said, she wasn’t 100 percent healthy last year,” Brink said. 

The next two finishers for Wayne State were Kylie Pachta, who finished 115th with a time of 23:16, and Lindsey Stuckey, who finished 123rd with a time of 23:20. 

“I was glad to see that they went out and went for it rather than getting done and feeling like ‘Oh, I could have ran faster if I had waited to go a little bit faster at the beginning of the race’,” Brink said. “It’s still a good accomplishment for them. That’s the highest that we’ve had since 2011. So that was a great finish for them and for the season.” 

The Wildcats’ men’s team finished 23rd out of 29 teams in the regional meet.  

“It was nice that we were able to beat a couple of teams that beat us in the NSIC championships,” Brink said, “…they had a good finish and they improved from three spots over last year. We are making progress in the right direction there and that’s really what you want to see moving forward.” 

Senior Titus Kiptoo led the way for the Wildcats, finishing 47th with a time of 32:04 on the 10,000-meter course. The Wildcat runners that followed him were Quentin Dryer, who finished 113th with a time of 33:31 and Abe Schroeder, who finished 139th with a time of 34:10. 

“Yeah, that’s the highest finish we’ve had for a guy since 2010 when we had a guy that placed 22nd at the regional meet,” Brink said. “So that’s kind of a nice way for him to wrap up his cross-country career, and he’s been a leader for us the whole season. Very consistent, and just a steady presence.”