Notre Dame Completes Team Sweep Over Wisconsin; Toledo's Mercy Kinyanjui, Butler's William Zegarski Win Individual Titles

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Notre Dame photo

RESULTS | Auto Qualifiers - Notre Dame men, Wisconsin men; Notre Dame women, Wisconsin women

The Notre Dame men's and women's cross country teams handled the Wisconsin men's and women's team to claim a sweep of team titles at the NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional on Friday at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio.

The 19th-ranked Irish men scored 70 points to beat No. 9 Wisconsin by 12 points and the sixth-ranked Irish women won easily over No. 14 Wisconsin 51-97.

The Notre Dame men put all five scorers in the top 25 to all earn All-Region honors, with Carter Solomon leading the way in a fifth-place effort of 29 minutes, 22.9 seconds for the 10-kilometer race.

Ethan Coleman (29:28.9, 10th), Daelen Ackley (29:33.8, 13th), Izaiah Steury (29:35.2, 18th) and CJ Singleton (29:47.7, 24th) made up the rest of the Irish's top five scorers.

Second-place Wisconsin also put five runners on the All-Region team to secure a trip back to their home course in Madison but did so with a three-second spread between their scorers.

Rowen Ellenburg was the top Badger scorer in 29:34.2 for 14th as part of the Badgers securing individual places 14th through 17th. Big Ten champion Bob Liking and Matan Ivri both ran 29:34.8, giving Liking the edge for 15th, and Australian Olympian Adam Spencer finished in 29:35.1 for 17th. Micah Wilson completed Wisconsin's scoring, finishing 20th in 29:37.2.

Butler's William Zegarski held off Purdue's Douglas Buckeridge at the line to claim the individual title, winning by a margin of 29:12.7 to 29:12.9.

The Notre Dame women came away with five All-Region performers to lead them to the team title, including three individuals finishing in the top 10.

Siona Chisholm secured a third-place finish to guide the Irish in 19:35.1, with Erin Strzelecki (19:37.8) and Mary Bonner Dalton (19:49.2) finishing fifth and 10th, respectively, as the only school with three runners to finish within the top 10.

Isabel Allori notched a 14th-place finish in 19:56.2 and Gretchen Farley rounded out the top 20 in 20:03.9 to cap Notre Dame's scoring.

Shea Ruhly ran 19:55.1 for 12th place to lead four Badger women on the All-Region team. Nora Gremban ran 19:59.8 to place 16th, Bella Jacobsen clocked 19:59.9 in 17th and Carolyn Shult finished in 20:08.7 for 22nd.

Toledo's Mercy Kinyanjui overcame 16 placings at the first kilometer to capture the individual title in the end in 19:29.7, beating Michigan State's Rachel Forsyth by two seconds.