The women earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 22. On Saturday, MSU was led by top individual finisher, senior Emily MacLeod. MacLeod, the Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, finished with a time of 20:18.

“We went in telling them they don’t have to defend anything and just to go out and see who we can be today,” assistant coach Lisa Senakiewich said. “We came out the winners and it took a tremendous effort by all the women — it was a
great day.”

MacLeod said although she was happy about her team’s performance, they have a lot more in the tank and expectations are high for the NCAA Championships.

“We went into it pretty calm and just wanted to do our best today, and it worked out,” MacLeod said. “I’m pretty excited (about the NCAA Championships). We’re going to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing all year and hopefully we’ll be able to all hit on the same day.”

The Spartans, who earned their third Big Ten championship in program history on Oct. 31, had three runners in the top 15 — MacLeod, junior Carlie Green and junior Rebekah Smeltzer.

Green said the team might have a good chance to sneak up on other teams in the NCAA Championships.

“We’ve been running the same girls all season and it’s almost like every single one of us has had a different day be our best race,” Green said. “We’re hoping we can go in and everyone can have a good race on the same day. People won’t even see us coming.”

In other action, the men’s cross country team finished fifth overall out of 31 at the Great Lakes Cross Country Regional 10k.

Senior Patrick Grosskopf was the only Spartan to finish in the top 25. Grosskopf finished 13th with a time of 30:39, while sophomores Isaiah VanDoorne and Ben Miller finished 29th (31:09) and 30th (31:10), respectively.

On Sunday, the men’s team learned it would not receive an at-large berth in the NCAA Championships, although Grosskopf qualified as an individual runner.

Senakiewich said she was proud of the performances from both squads. After stressing the team concept all season, she said it’s nice to see both adopting that mentality down the stretch.

“They’re all about the team,” Senakiewich said. “They are a group who’s willing to put in the work and race for each other and it’s just been really special.

“I mean, it’s hard to get everyone to buy into the team concept all of the time. The women and the men both do it very well.”