The Valparaiso University men’s and women’s cross country teams finished their respective seasons Friday as they competed in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship, held in Madison, Wis. The men’s squad placed 29^th in the 10K and the women finished 31^st in the 6K at the Championships.

How It Happened

• On the men’s side, senior Max Morello (Plano, Ill./Plano) paced the Crusaders with a 141^st-place finish with a time of 33:28.9, clipping nearly a minute off his finish from last year’s race and finishing 22 positions higher.
• Sophomore Ben Zibricky (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way Central) made large strides from a year ago, shaving over four minutes off his time as he placed 153rd with a time of 33:46.6.
• The Bruno brothers, sophomore Alexander (Bloomington, Ill./University) and senior Adam (Bloomington, Ill./University) finished within two seconds of one another. Alexander finished in 167^th place (34:02.8), while Adam finished 169^th (34:04.7). Adam erased 43 seconds from his time last year at regionals.
• Senior Dan Walters (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) finished 179^th (35:25.1) to round out Valpo’s top-five runners. Freshmen Victor Fortin (East Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame) and Elliot Hanke (Bridgman, Mich./Bridgman) finished 185^th (34:41.4) and 193^rd (35:32.8) to end their rookie campaigns.
• For the women, senior Liz Owen (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) led Valpo for the second consecutive season at the regional meet. The Crusader veteran finished in 157^th place, with a time of 22:52.8.
• Running a time 48 seconds quicker than her 2015 mark, junior Kim Heiny (Burnettsville, Ind./Twin Lakes) crossed the finish in 178^th (23:17.9). Senior Tori Tamburrino (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) ran a 24:25.7 6K to help her finish 201^st to end the race for Valpo upperclassmen.
• The group of freshmen runners Kate Mitchell (Algonquin, Ill./Huntley), Nicole Berneche (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West), Celia McGhiey (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Kyla Ohst (Naperville, Ill./Metea Valley) rounded out the race for Valparaiso. Mitchell led the rookies with a mark of 24:34.2 (204^th), followed by Berneche’s finish at 214^th place (25:31.4) and McGhiey crossed the finish line a place behind her teammate with a time of 25:38.2 (215^th). Ohst came in two spots behind McGhiey and earned 217^th place (25:48.3).