The Indiana University Kokomo cross-country team competed in the River States Conference (RSC) championships Saturday, November 8th. This is many of theirs last race of the season, especially for the seniors, it is their last race of their long-running career for cross country. There is always optimism, though, that any team can go into the conference and win the race, automatically qualifying them for the cross country national championships, which is located in Tallahassee, Florida.
For reference, in order for a team to qualify for the national championships, the team has to win its respective conference race, which receives an automatic bid, or they have to earn an at-large bid by being a ranked team in the top 36 in the nation. For individuals to qualify, you have to place in the top 15 of the race, and you have to be a top-four runner on a non-qualifying team. If you place 16th and place top four on a non-qualifying team, you unfortunately miss the chance at qualifying for nationals.
The women’s’ team went on to place fourth overall as a team, scoring 97 points and behind Indiana University East for third by 39 points. Respectfully, senior Leslie Sprankles led the way, placing tenth with a time of 23:37 in a 6000-meter race, which is six seconds off her season best. Following behind her were freshman Courtney Adams in 14th, sophomore Alysha Crouch in 17th, freshman Amber Detmer in 26th, and freshman Kadence Hoover in 34th to round out the top five. There is a lot of hope for this team for next year, especially with how young they are and with ten of their twelve runners Saturday being underclassmen, eight of which were freshman. They do lose the heavy hitter in Leslie and also senior Joy McDivitt, who struggled with injuries over the years. With a good recruiting class, they can make the case for being ranked next year if development improves.
For the men’s side, they also placed fourth overall as a team, scoring 124 points, trailing third-place Shawnee State by 64 points. They had a bad day to have a bad race, as only one person broke the 27:00 barrier in the 8000-meter race, which was junior and captain Steve Case, running a 26:54. Behind him were senior Bryce Stateler, freshman Jerimiah Miles, freshman Karter Jackson, and junior and captain Drew Lovelace to round out the top five. It was the best team in cross country history, as backed up by times, but unfortunately, they did not have their best races on Saturday. They will lose seniors Bryce Stateler, Isaiah Kanable, and Kyle Thibideau, who struggled with an ankle sprain during the race. The team is as same as the girls, a very young team and with a good recruiting class, you can make the case for them to be ranked next year and possibly compete for a top three finish at the conference meet next year.
The cougars did have a qualifier, though, as senior Leslie Sprankles did not run her last race and will earn a plane ticket to Florida to run at the cross-country national championships. She placed tenth in the race and was the fourth and last person to qualify on a non-qualifying team, thanks to Shawnee State earning an at-large bid by the NAIA Committee.
Here is Leslie on the opportunity of qualifying for nationals in addition to the unknown on whether she ran her last race or not, “Qualifying for nationals is a goal I have had for the last four years, so finally reaching that goal in my senior year means a lot. Leading up to the selection show, I was feeling really anxious because I did not know if the conference race was the last of my career or not. I just trusted God and his plan for me and was satisfied in knowing that no matter what the result was, I ran my best of my ability and had nothing left when I finished.”
Leslie will finish her cross country career Friday, November 21, in Tallahassee, Florida at the Apalachee Regional Park.
