The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men's cross country team claimed 14th place with a team score of 411 during Saturday's NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships at Hillsdale, Mich.

"The season didn't end the way we wanted," UIS head coach Scott Slade said. "We put a lot of emphasis on the conference meet and I think we had a letdown after that."

"This was definitely not the outcome we were looking for," UIS assistant coach Tyler Pence added. "We needed to be a little more aggressive early on and put ourselves in better position. We are a young team that is still learning the tactics that go into championship racing. As always, is was a great learning experience."
 
Blake Jones led the Prairie Stars with a 10K time of 33 minutes, 20.5 seconds to earn 53rd. The freshman from Lincoln recorded the highest placing at the regional meet in UIS history. Jones also put together the program's third-fastest 10K time.
 
Brendan Kroeger locked up 79th (33:48.8) and a personal record (PR). The junior from Quincy finished with the seventh-fastest 10K time in school history.
 
Sophomore Tyler Pasley secured 87th (33:58.3) and the program's eighth-fastest time.
 
Tyler Hiserote claimed 90th (34:00.8) and the 10th-fastest time in school history. The junior from Bartonville compiled a 32.0-second PR.
 
Kenton Wilson captured 102nd (34:10.9), Ryan Stark took 126th (34:33.1) and Thomas Wuchte crossed the finish line 157th (35:26.7).

"Overall, it was a good season," Slade acknowledged. "This team has come a long way this year and I am proud of them."

Grand Valley State University, ranked No. 3 in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll, secured first in the team standings with a score of 38 points. Tenth-ranked Saginaw Valley State University (92) came in second. Walsh University, tied for 19th in the national poll, took third (131), finishing ahead of the University of Southern Indiana (147), Cedarville University (184), Hillsdale College (195), Michigan Technological University (201), No. 17 Malone University (225), Northwood University (255) and Wayne State University (317), which rounds out the top 10 teams among the 32-team field. Southern Indiana is also receiving votes, nationally.
 
Topping the 217-individual field was Southern Indiana's Titus Winders, who clocked a winning time of 31:05.1.
 
The NCAA Division II Championships is scheduled for Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh. The top three teams in each regional automatically qualify for nationals, accounting for 24 of the 32 teams. The final eight at-large teams will be selected by the NCAA Selection Committee with no regional restrictions. The top five individuals not on one of the 32 qualifying teams will qualify for nationals as individuals.
 
Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State and Walsh have each punched its tickets to nationals. Winders, Hillsdale's Joseph Humes, Ferris State's Damien Halverson, Lake Superior State University's David Mitter and Southern Indiana's Austin Nolan have each qualified for nationals, regardless of which at-large teams get selected.
 
The top 25 individuals at the regional meet each collected USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honors.

UIS graduates Wilson who holds the third-fastest 8K time in school history. The senior from Shelbyville has the fastest 8K time in program history by a senior as well as the program's second-fastest 6K time.

The Prairie Stars are expected to return of 18-of-19 (94.7 percent) runners for the 2019 season.