By: Chris Behler

This past weekend the Xavier men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Great Lakes Regional meet in Madison, Wisc.

The men finished 26th overall with junior Corey Zielinski leading the way, finishing 119th in 33:19.

Junior Connor Buchholz (133rd, 33:32), senior Spencer Liechty (137th, 33:35) and freshmen Carter Macey (150th, 33:48) and Aaron Peterson (156th 34:10) followed right behind Zielinski to seal a top-30 finish.

In addition to the men’s strong finish, the women accomplished their team goal of finishing 10th overall.

Senior Clare Fischer led the team with an 18th-place finish overall and a personal best of 20:47.

The 10th place finish for the women was an all-time best at a regional meet. Fischer’s performance last weekend earned her a spot in this weekend’s National Championship meet.

“Making the finals of the NCAA Championship has been a long-term goal that Clare has been working towards for the past three years and one that she’s come close to accomplishing in both track and cross country,” head coach Ryan Orner said.

“As one of the 38 individuals selected to compete in the finals of the NCAA Cross Country Championship, Clare has distinguished herself as an elite college distance runner,” Orner said.

Additionally, her sister senior Abby Fischer finished 44th with a time of 21:30.

Junior Audrey Ramos finished in 64th with a time of 21:53, while sophomore Sarah Mazzei and senior Jessica Albers crossed the finish line within a second of one another, finishing 73rd and 74th, respectively.

Upcoming for the cross country programs is the NCAA Championship where Clare Fischer will compete at noon this Saturday at Indiana State.