The No. 26 Toledo women’s cross country team and men’s team individual qualifier Dominic Serem are set to race in the NCAA National Championship on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin. The women’s 6K race will begin at 10:20 a.m. while the men’s 10K race will start at 11:10 a.m. at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. The event will be shown on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Toledo earned one of the 13 at-large bids into the women’s championship event following a third-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship meet on Nov. 15. Redshirt freshman Mercy Kinyanjui led the Rockets, becoming the first individual champion from Toledo at the regional meet since 2002. Laura Nicholson placed sixth while Lou Trois took 18th overall. Kinynajui, Nicholson and Trois each earned All-Region honors.
Freshman Dominic Serem earned a third-place finish in the men’s race at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship meet with a final time of 29:14.1. Serem’s third-place finish helped him become the first individual qualifier for the men’s team since 1975 and take home All-Region honors.
This marks the sixth NCAA National Championship appearance for the women’s team and second in the last three seasons. The Rockets also earned an at-large bid in 2022 and placed 28th. The best finish by the Rockets in the championship race came in 2011 when they placed 21st. Brianna Shook holds the record for best individual finish, taking 24th in 2002. On the men’s side, Phil Hinck placed 47th overall in the 1974 national championship.
