MADISON, Wisc. -- Three record finishes highlighted the University of Evansville cross country team's performance at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships.

A top 10 program finish from freshman Sonja Inzinger (Mautern an der Donau, Austria) and top 15 program finishes for Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria) and Samuel Lea (Worcester, United Kingdom) were standouts for the Purple Aces in their final meet of the 2023 season. Along with the three record finishes, a total of five UE runners set personal best times on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc. As a team, the Evansville women placed 28th out of 32 teams while the men's team only had two runners participate due to injury. 

"I was really proud of what I saw today from our women's team," said Head Coach Brooks LeCompt. "The goal was to try to start the race more aggressively to run the way we'd like to in the future and it was successful. Competing among conference competitors we had two of the top five runners in Sonja Inzinger (2) and Nicole Prauchner (5), which bodes well for the program. We lost a couple of our runners due to sickness before the meet began which made for a tough start mentally. But our runners ran brave and it will set us up to be a championship team going forward.

"For our men Sam and Rafa, they ran about as well as we could have hoped for freshman running their first ever 10K race. We plan to build upon this season as a cross country program. And we are looking forward to a strong showing on the track for indoor track and field season in the winter,". 

Running in their third 6K race of the season, the Aces women's team saw marked improvement, particularly among its top runners. Inzinger ran the ninth-fastest time in program history and a personal best at 22:21.3 for a 105th-place finish. Prauchner also ran to a record book finish with a personal best of 22:29.7 securing her spot at 14th among UE 6K performances.

Evansville had one other runner set a personal best in the 6K race as Avery Stephens (Newburgh, Ind.) finished the 6K in 25:30.6 for a 222nd place finish. The Aces had three other runners compete in Madison as Kalina Urbaniak (Suchy Las, Poland) finished at 184th with a time of 23:42.2. Kyndall Anthis (Patoka, Ind.) finished 219th with a time of 25:15.0, and Sarah Vanderhoof-Dossett finished 223rd with a time of 25:46.1. Overall as a team the UE women placed 28th with an average time of 23:51.8. 

Due to injuries and travel space, Evansville's men's team only had two runners compete in the Great Lakes Regional 10K race. It was the Aces only 10K race of the year and freshman Samuel Lea ran the 12th-best 10K time in program history at 32:58.8. Lea's 10K personal best was good for a meet-wide 166th place finish. Also running on the men's side for UE was freshman Rafaela Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain), placing 184th with a time of 33:34.4. 

Overall Butler and Wisconsin earned automatic bids to the NCAA Men's Cross Country National Championship, while Notre Dame and Wisconsin earned the NCAA Women's Cross Country National Championship auto bids. Wisconsin's Bob Liking and Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich won the men's and women's individual titles. Runners finishing in the Top 25 at the Great Lakes Regional have a chance to be selected for the NCAA Cross Country National Championship in Earlysville, Va.

WOMEN: 28th of 32 teams (104, 115, 177, 211, 214, (215)) - 821 points
104 Sonja Inzinger - 22:21.3
115 Nicole Prauchner - 22:29.7
177 Kalina Urbaniak - 23:42.2
211 Kyndall Anthis - 25:15.0
214 Avery Stephens  - 25:30.6
215 Sarah Vanderhoof-Dossett - 25:46.1

MEN: Non-Scoring Team
166 Samuel Lea - 32:58.8
184 Rafael Rodriguez - 33:34.4