The Kansas State cross country team had a strong performance at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 12, in Iowa City, Iowa, at the Ashton Cross Country Course. The women’s team finished in sixth place with 243 points — the team’s best finish at the NCAA Regionals since 2010. The men finished with 332 points, good for 11th place overall.
“The women ran really well,” head coach Ryun Godfrey said. “They were aggressive from the start, which I love to see. It was great to see Jaybe rebound from Big 12’s and earn NCAA All-Region honors. It was a great accomplishment. The men ran well also. We were aiming for top-12 [finish], and we got it done.”
For the women, junior Jaybe Shufelberger was the first Wildcat to cross the finish line with a time of 21:13.83, good for 19th place. Schufelberger earned the Wildcat’s first top-20 finish at the Midwest Regional since 2014 when Laura Galvan placed ninth.
Junior Kassidy Johnson finished next behind Shufelberger in 30th place with a time of 21:21.97. Junior Hannah Stewart finished in 38th place, recording a time of 21:29.71.
Next across the line for the women with a time of 21:44.18 was junior Sydney Burton in 57th place. Junior Cailan Stewart finished in 100th place with a time of 22:18.16.
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Junior Katie Kasunic finished next in 130th place with a time of 22:41.48. Rounding out the women’s competition for K-State was redshirt sophomore Helen Giefer in 178th place (23:27.70).
On the men’s side of things, redshirt junior Kerby Depenbusch was the first Wildcat to finish out the 10K, taking 43rd place with a time of 31:31.73. Behind Depenbusch was junior Hadley Splechter in 58th place with a time of 31:44.27.
Redshirt junior Mike Rohlinger was next to finish for K-State in 61st place with a time of 31:47.81. Senior Stephen Kielhofner placed 82nd with a time of 32:15.81.
Finishing back-to-back was freshman Matthew Hauser in 88th place (32:21.66) and fifth-year Noah Stevenson in 89th place (32:22.80). Concluding the competition for the men was redshirt junior David Lutgen in 97th place with a time of 32:30.98.
The competition was the conclusion of the 2021 cross country season for the Wildcats, and the team will now turn its attention to the indoor track season.
