This morning Indiana State held the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s cross country championship. The women’s team earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, while the men earned a selection on November 16 in the selection show.
The Wolfpack women finished in fifth totaling 190 points. This is an improvement from last year for the woman, who finished 13th in 2018.
The No. 5 women’s team was led by senior Elly Henes finishing 10th overall. Henes has improved her finishing spot every year finishing 16th in 2018 and 32nd in 2017. Henes had a time of 20:20.7. Henes was followed by freshman Kelsey Chmiel, who finished in 22nd place with a time of 20:32.5. Chmiel had the best finish for a freshman since 2010. Both Henes and Chmiel were named All-Americans. This is Henes’ third time being named an All-American.
Behind Henes and Chmiel was junior Dominique Clairmonte who finished in 54th overall with a time of 20:59.1. Freshman Mariah Howlett finished in 68th in her first NCAA championship with a time of 21:02.9 and sophomore Savannah Shaw finished in 102nd place with a time of 21:16.7. With those five combining for a score of 190 points, they were just 22 points behind fourth-place New Mexico and 94 points behind first-place Arkansas.
On the men’s side, the Pack finished in 26th place with a score of 605. This is a step back from their 11th-place finish in 2018.
The men’s team was led by junior Ian Shanklin, who finished in 39th place with a time of 31:19.3. Shanklin improved his finish as he finished in 54th in 2018. Junior Gavin Gaynor was next to finish for the Wolfpack with a 60th-place finish with a time of 31:34.7.
Senior Tanis Baldwin finished next for the Wolfpack with a time of 32:37.3 and 172nd-place finish. Next was junior Tim Bason, who finished in 208th with a 33:20.0 finish. Rounding it out for the men was freshman Yared Mekonnen, who finished in 242nd with a time of 34:51.2.
The Pack finished just 17 points behind No. 25 Texas and 496 points behind first-place BYU.
This is the end of a very successful season for cross country, especially the women’s team, as runners will turn their attention to spring track or next season.
