The Meet

South Dakota men's and women's cross country travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the NCAA Midwest Regional at Greiner Family OSU Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The women's 6,000-meter race is set for 10:30 a.m. with the men's 10,000-meter race to follow at 11:30 a.m.
 

The Coyotes

South Dakota's women are coming off a Summit League Championship title. The Coyote women placed four in the top-six en route to the title. Seventh-year senior Abby Ripperda led the Coyotes for the third time of the season, placing third for all-Summit first team accolades. She was followed by freshman Madison Brouwer and fourth-year junior Abrielle Jirele in fourth and fifth, respectively. The trio have finished among USD's top-three all season long with each leading in a race this year. Fifth-year senior Ella Byers was sixth at the Summit meet to garner her first career all-Summit honors in cross country. Freshman Alexis Pagel was the Coyotes' fifth scorer at the Summit meet. The Coyote women are ranked eighth in the Midwest region entering the meet.
 
On the men's side, sophomore Carson Lauterbach has been the Coyotes' frontrunner throughout the season. He was 19th at the Summit meet. Junior Mason Sindelar was just behind in 22nd. Others in the scoring five from the Summit meet were freshman Piercze Marshall, sophomore Seth Fey and freshman Grant Dixon.
 

The Competition

The Midwest region includes all NCAA Division I teams from the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. The Coyote women are No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Midwest rankings.
 

Up Next

A total of 31 teams qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships with 18 automatic bids (top two teams in each of the nine regions), while 13 are at-large bids selected by the NCAA's committee. In addition, there are 38 individual qualifiers for NCAAs. The top-four individual finishers not on a qualifying team from each NCAA regional meet are automatically selected. Two additional athletes are selected from the remainder of the national pool.
 
The NCAA Championships are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 18, in Charlottesville, Virginia.