The University of Minnesota Duluth men's and women's cross country programs battled for regional placement and national qualifications this morning at the Division II Central Region Championships in Joplin, Mo.

Fifth year senior Franny Seidel had a monster of a day, running to a twelfth place finish and All-Region honors. She completed the women's 6k course in a time of 21:29.35, and will await news of a possible national bid for the DII National Championships on November 23rd. 

Following Seidel were teammates Maddie Verkerke in 58th (22:26.11), Ellie Hanowski in 90th (22:59.58), Eve Anderson in 101st (23:09.78), and Mileena Sullivan in 104th (23:15.93).

On the men's side, fifth year senior Jack Van Kempen also had success in his first 10k of the season. His time of 31:25.87 earned him 26th place, just one spot outside of an All-Region finish. This was also a one spot improvement from his performance at this meet last year in 2023. 

Rounding out the top five for the Bulldog men were Owen Dickenson in 44th (31:47.08), Alex Heidorn in 68th (32:14.15), Mikey Kvaal in 116th (33:13.41), and Noah Foster in 118th (33:19.67).

The NSIC as a whole was well represented, particularly on the women's side, with teams from the University of Augustana (first), the University of Mary (third), and Winona State University (fourth) all placing in the top four. 


 Automatic qualifications for the DII National Championships in Sacramento, Calif. were given to the top two placing individuals and teams from both races. National bids are chosen through an at-large basis, and will take some time to be finalized. All-Region Honors were earned by the top 25 individuals in both the men's 10k and women's 6k.