Kielhofner Earns All-Region Honors, Men’s Team Finishes 11th, Women’s 18th

Friday, November 11

Columbia, Mo.

11 a.m. (W) / 12 p.m. (M)

Kansas State University

NCAA Midwest Regional

Kielhofner Earns All-Region Honors, Men’s Team Finishes 11th, Women’s 18th

Nov 11, 2022 | Cross Country

Men's 10k Results (.pdf)Women's 6k Results (.pdf)Photo Gallery

The team's wait to see if any individual runners will advance to the NCAA Championships

The Kansas State men's and women's cross country teams concluded their seasons on Friday morning (November 11) at the NCAA Midwest Regionals at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo.

The men's team tied their finish from last year's Midwest Regionals with an 11^th place finish but did so with 10 fewer points (322). In the women's 6k, the Wildcats finished 18^th, out of 33 teams, with 497 points, beating out Big 12 competitor Kansas by 25 points.

Senior Stephen Kielhofner (22^nd; 30:06.6) earned All-Region honors, awarded to the top-25 finishers of each race.

"I didn't really have any plans for Regionals necessarily," Kielhofner said. "And when I missed All-Big 12's I kinda started thinking, you know, maybe I could make some noise at Regionals and 22^nd is not bad, so I'm pretty happy with it."

Kielhofner ran a new 10k personal best, two minutes faster than his previous time set last season at the Regionals meet.

"I knew I was going to PR, because last year when I did the 10k, it was not a good 10k, coming into this one I was like 'I know I'm gonna do better than last year.'

"It's my last cross country race ever, as far as I know, I just wanted to enjoy the day, just enjoy my team, enjoy the environment," Kielhofner said. "I'm from Missouri, I've ran this course before, I know it's a great course, and I had some friends and family here and just wanted to have fun for the day, and I did, and I was smiling during the race, it was a good time."

In the only 10k of the season, four men – Kielhofner and juniors Hadley Splechter, David Lutgen and Kerby Depenbusch – accomplished new 10k personal bests. Lutgen surpassed his personal best he set in 2019, while sophomores Tommy Hazen, Kyle Johnston and junior Jack Moore ran in the first 10k of their career.

Splechter (49^th; 30:33.2) finished in the top-50, a better finish from last year where he placed 61^st. Three more men finished in a cluster in the top-100, Hazen (82^nd; 31:03.6), Moore (85^th; 31:06.1) and Lutgen (87^th; 31:07.2).

Depenbusch (105^th; 31:19.8) and Johnston (109^th; 31:21.7) were not too far behind in a field of 197 finishers.

Junior Hannah Stewart (37^th; 20:57.8) led the way for the women's team while recording her new 6k personal best – 30 seconds faster than her previous time set last season – and placing one spot higher than she did at last year's Midwest Regionals.

"I felt pretty strong, I was really proud," Stewart said. "Compared to other 6k's, this is a fast course, so I was thankful to be able to go out and run with the team and get things done."

Junior Sydney Burton (78^th; 21:36.3) jumped back up the women's standings to place second and finish a full minute faster than her time at the Big 12 Championships (Oct. 28). Freshman Cecilia Fisher (85^th; 21:39.3) rounded out the top-100 for the women, running a new personal best almost a minute faster than her time at the Big 12, also finishing the season as the only freshman to compete in all six meets.

Junior Cailan Steward (107^th; 21:50.5) was three seconds shy of a new 6k personal best but finished faster than she did last year while competing in Regionals. Sophomore Helen Giefer (194^th; 23:19.2) ran her fastest 6k this season, more than 40 seconds faster than her time set at the Weis-Crockett Invitational (Oct. 15). Sophomore Alexa Rios (203^rd; 23:33.3) competed in her first Regionals meet, also running a new 6k personal best, 12 seconds than her previous time set last season.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Randy Cole
On the women's team performance…
"The women hung tough, we were a little shorthanded going in, but everyone that raced competed to the best of their ability on the day. Hannah Stewart had a really strong run, she's been steadfast the whole season. The other girls did real solid performances, Cecilia Fisher is doing very well as a freshman, Sydney and Cailan ran tough, Helen came on to be our fifth runner, which we needed being a little shorthanded. They were steady, but again not at the level we want to be."

On the men's team performance…
"The men really moved up well throughout the race, they put themselves a little too far back to crack in the top-7 or top-8, they were charging well over the second half. Stephen ran super, earning All-Region honors, just a great race, he worked hard, he's put in the work all summer, all year long, been a very consistent performer. The other guys really packed up together well, they ran really well for themselves, just a little bit too far back to gain a little bit higher placing."

FROM THE COURSE
Junior Hannah Stewart
On the team's performance…
"It felt pretty good today, I loved these conditions, it was a little windy, but we got out strong in the first mile and a half-ish. We had a good little team meeting last night together and talked about going out and executing well today and I think people rose to the occasion pretty well."

On bouncing back from the last meet and finishing strong…
"Bouncing back from conference, I think we did a good job of regrouping and understanding some of our team goals and going in and just being more confident in each other and ourselves and trusting our training a little bit more and we had better conditions today as well, but I think we did a great job of having more confidence in each other."

Freshman Cecilia Fisher
On the team and her personal performance…
"Personally, I think I did really well, the team goal was to stay connected so I think we did a good job. 4 of us were kind of in the top half, we stayed connected, we stayed tough, and I was really proud of how we did."

On the conditions of the race, course…
"The course was perfect conditions, we were worried that it was supposed to be really rainy all night so we thought the course was going to be muddy and slippery, but the course was actually perfect, it's pretty flat, it's just a great course, it's honestly one of my favorites this year."

Junior David Lutgen
On the team finishing strong…
"Our team packed up and we were near the back at the start and our pack of three or four just kept slowly moving up throughout the race and thought we all finished pretty well. Stephen and Hadley kind of led us with those top-2 guys and then our pack of three and four kind of moved up and finished pretty strong."

On his new personal best in his last race…
"It feels great. Last year I ran a minute and a half slower than I did today so just to be able to go out with a really solid race felt pretty good and just knowing I could help the team out one last time."

WOMEN'S TEAM FINISHES (6K)
1. Oklahoma State, 58
2. Northwestern, 88
3. Bradley, 99
4. Iowa State, 115
5. Minnesota, 137
6. Illinois, 176
7. Tulsa, 182
8. Loyola (Ill.), 235
9. Missouri, 349
10. South Dakota St., 387
11. Nebraska, 389
12. North Dakota State, 391
13. Oklahoma, 403
14. Iowa, 403
15. Drake, 441
16. DePaul, 474
17. Illinois State, 483
18. K-State, 497
19. Kansas, 522
20. Wichita State, 530

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (6K)
37. Hannah Stewart, 20:57.8
78. Sydney Burton, 21:36.3
85. Cecilia Fisher, 21:39.3
107. Cailan Steward, 21:50.5
194. Helen Giefer, 23:19.2
203. Alexa Rios, 23:33.3

MEN'S TEAM FINISHES (10K)
1. Tulsa, 49
2. Oklahoma State, 49
3. Iowa State, 73
4. Loyola (Ill.), 156
5. Wichita State, 184
6. South Dakota St., 204
7. Illinois, 257
8. Bradley, 271
9. Minnesota, 283
10. Drake, 320
11. K-State, 322
12. Kansas, 357
13. Illinois State, 359
14. Missouri, 364
15. DePaul, 404
16. Eastern Illinois, 411
17. Iowa, 454
18. North Dakota State, 478
19. Saint Louis, 500
20. Southern Illinois

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (10K)
22. Stephen Kielhofner, 30:06.6
49. Hadley Splechter, 30:33.2
82. Tommy Hazen, 31:03.6
85. Jack Moore, 31:06.1
87. David Lutgen, 31:07.2
104. Kerby Depenbusch, 31:19.3
109. Kyle Johnston, 31:21.7

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.