The Valparaiso University cross country programs finished out the season at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, co-hosted by Southern Indiana and Evansville along with the Evansville Regional Sports Commission at Angels Mounds Course in Evansville, Ind. on Friday. Redshirt sophomore Laetitia Raoult (Guingamp, France [Florida International]) paced the Beacon women, while junior Karson Hollander (Crystal Lake, Ill. / Crystal Lake) was the first Valpo man across the finish line. As a team, both the men and women turned in the program's all-time best NCAA Regional finishes.
 
How It Happened

• Raoult posted a top-100 finish in a deep and competitive 231-runner field, stopping the clock in 21:47.56 in the 6k.
• Freshman Samantha Rowley (Barrington, Ill. / Barrington) closed out a strong initial collegiate campaign with a time of 21:58.87. The third Beacon to finish was sophomore Kensington Black (Franklin, Ohio / Franklin Senior) at 22:25.22.
• In the men's 10k, Hollander's time of 31:21.83 placed 45^th. He improved his 10k personal best of 31:47.00 from last season's NCAA Regional and continues to rank fourth in program history in that event.
• Hollander was followed by senior Joseph Scheele (Mahomet, Ill. / Mahomet-Seymour), whose time of 32:25.47 put him inside the top 100 at 95^th. Freshman Joey Yaros also cracked the top 100 at 32:28.92, placing 99^th of 209. Yaros finished out his rookie season by entering the program record book, as his time ranks ninth in Valpo history.
• Redshirt junior Alex Valerio (Rockford, Ill. / Boylan Catholic) posted a time of 32:22.93, which now ranks 10^th in program lore.  
• Eight of the top 10 men's 10k times in program history have come since Vincent Walker took over the program prior to the 2022 campaign.
• The Valpo women had a team score of 701 to place 24^th of 35, while the men placed 15^th of 32 with a team score of 441. Notre Dame won the Regional for both men's and women's.
• The top-15 finish on the men's side was the best in program history, eclipsing the 18^th-place finish in 2022. The women outdid the 25^th-place finish from 2014 for the program's best on record.