Senior Justine Jeroski placed fifth overall to earn an automatic berth to nationals and helped lead the Case Western Reserve women’s cross country team to a third-place finish in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Cross Country Regional at Hope College on Saturday, November 13. The Spartan men finished seventh out of 33 competing teams in their half of the regional.
Jeroski’s time of 21:47.1 earned her an auto bid for the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, Nov. 20 at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. The Spartan women also have positioned themselves for an at-large berth to the championships.
Calvin College took titles in both regional races, as the men won for the 15th straight time and the women’s team took their third straight regional. Both winning teams and the runners-up receive automatic team bids to the NCAA Division III Championships. The Wabash College men and Hope College women will advance to the national meet after placing second. The NCAA will announce the at-large qualifiers tomorrow evening.
The women’s team finished with 115 points, just 12 points off of the second-place pace set by Hope (103) complete with three top 25 finishers. All five Spartan scorers were in the top 40 overall.
Following Jeroski, junior Natalia Cabrera turned in a 13th-place effort with her time of 22:25.2. Senior Bettina Kaphingst was 25th in a time of 22:43.4 and joined Cabrera on the all-region team.
Rounding out the scoring for the women, freshman Brooke Simpson finished 35th in 22:55.0 and senior Andrea Fischione crossed the line in 22:56.9 for a 37th place result.
On the men’s side, Case placed seventh on the strength of a 220 team score and three top 40 finishes.
Sophomore Chris Kelly placed 31st overall to lead the team with a time of 25:58.3, while seniors David Carter and Robert Ontko came across the line next for the Spartans. Carter posted a time of 25:59.9 and registered a finish of 36th, while Ontko ran a 26:00.2 to finish in 38th position overall.
Junior Chris Wade and senior Bobby Voigt rounded out the scoring for the Spartans, finishing in 54th and 61st place, respectively. Wade recorded a time of 26:22.3, while Voigt clocked in at 26:30.2.