Toledo's Season Ends With 28th-Place Finish at NCAA Championship - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Toledo's Season Ends With 28th-Place Finish at NCAA Championship

LOUISVILLE - One of the best cross country seasons in Toledo history ended with a 28th-place finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Louisville's E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. The 27th-ranked Rockets tallied 613 points in the program's third appearance at the national meet.

In her final race as a Rocket, senior Kaylin Belair crossed the finish line in 49th place at 20:22.3, just shy of her personal-best record. She finished with a time of 20:22 at the Wisconsin Adidas Invite earlier in the season. 

Belair provided consistency and strength for an injury-plagued team the whole season. She finished runner-up at the Mid-American Conference Championship, while leading the team in five races. More importantly, she stepped up when UT's No. 1 runner Mackenzie Chojnacky began suffering from an iron deficiency. Belair still has indoor and outdoor track eligibility left at Toledo.

Steady sophomores Priscilla Timmons, Liz Weiler and Brooke Tullis crossed the line next for Toledo.  Timmons finished in 102nd place at 20:49.9, also shy of her personal-record of 20:48. Weiler crossed at 21:10.4, good for 158th place, while Tullis ended up with a final time of 21:45.2.

Junior Devyn Ramsay closed out the UT scoring with a time of 21:51.8.

The other two Rockets who competed in the race were redshirt freshman Sharon Morgan and Chojnacky. Morgan crossed the line with a final mark of 21:55.2 in her first race since the MAC Championship, while Chojnacky rounded out the lineup at 22:20.5

Oregon won their third NCAA women's cross country title with 114 points, followed by Providence with 183, Stanford with 198 and Florida State with 202.

Initially, the Ducks' were not awarded the title due to a timing error in the results. Providence was first credited with the win, then almost immediately, it became apparent that  a few runners had been omitted from the final standings. After about 30 minutes the results were corrected and Ducks were crowned the national champions.

Iowa State's Betsy Saina won the sprint to the finish in 19:27.9.

The three-time repeating MAC Champions will return every runner next season minus Belair, including injured All-MAC performers Megan Vogelsong and Megan Wright.