Euan Makepeace at the Great Lakes Regional. Makepeace finished second overall to earn his second trip to the Division One National Championships. Photo courtesy of Butler Athletics.

BECCA ATCHLEY | STAFF REPORTER | batchley@butler.edu

The Butler men’s and women’s cross country teams competed on Friday afternoon at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Terre Haute, attempting to make their way back to the National Championships. The last time the women went to the National Championships was in 2013, when they placed 3rd overall. The men made their last trip in 2008, when they placed 29th out of 31 teams. 

The 24th-ranked women were led by junior Emily Royston across 6000 meters, placing 17th overall in 20:50.4. Junior Angelina Ellis took 34th in 21:11.2, sophomore Maddie McLain was 55th in 21:39.0, junior Camille Hines took 58th in 21:40.2 and sophomore Margo Hornocker took 70th in 21:50.5 to round out the scorers for the Bulldogs. 

The women scored 234 points for a seventh-place finish, 59 points off of Indiana University’s sixth-place finish. Michigan State and Michigan finished 1-2 for the automatic qualification for Nationals. 

Official lists of NCAA Division One National Championship qualifiers will be released later this weekend. Preliminary results, though, show that Emily Royston should earn an individual spot, with the team just outside making the finals. 

The men’s team appeared to be a threat for a top-five finish through their first three finishers. 

Euan Makepeace placed second overall in 30:05.5, and earned his second trip to the Division One National Championships next weekend. 

Junior Simon Bedard finished 22nd overall in 30:52.3. Sophomore Jackson Martin finished 35th in 31:16.2, while junior Clark Otte took 50th place in 31:38.1. Rounding out the scoring five for the men was senior Matthew Wigelsworth in 90th place in a time of 32:31.8. 

The men scored 197 points to place seventh in a heavily Big Ten dominated field. They were 27 points off of sixth place, Michigan State. 

Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame took the top two spots, earning automatic qualifying spots at Nationals.