STILLWATER, Okla. – Lucy Ndungu and the Shocker cross country teams are set to race at the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course.
 
The women race a 6K at 10:30 a.m., followed by the men's 10K at 11:30 a.m.
 
Ndungu, a junior transfer from Cloud County CC, looks to qualify to the NCAA Championships by finishing as one of the top four individuals who are not part of an automatic qualifying team or an at-large team. A top-10 finish could give her a good chance at advancing to the national meet in Charlottesville, Va. on Nov. 18.
 
With Oklahoma State and Iowa State ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the Midwest Region, they are the favorites to earn the automatic bid to the championship, while Northwestern and Nebraska sit at No. 3 and No. 4 in the regional rankings and will hope for an at-large bid if they don't finish in the top two. Ndungu will aim to beat Northwestern's and Nebraska's top finishers in order to secure an individual bid without having to wait on the NCAA Selection Show.
 
"She's raced head-to-head with [some] of those girls and beaten them and if she can accomplish that goal again, then I think she'll make it to nationals," head coach Kirk Hunter said.
 
Ndungu knocked off Nebraska's top runners at the Gans Creek Classic earlier in the season but has yet to face Northwestern.
 
"There's really not anything different she needs to do. Zero," Hunter said. "I believe if she races the way she has all year, she'll qualify."

If Ndungu qualifies, she will be the first Shocker since All-American Winny Koskei in the 2020-21 spring season to advance to the NCAA Championship.
 
Both Shocker teams aim for a high team finish as the Shocker men are ranked eighth in the region, while the women fell out of the top 15 in the last set of rankings after being ranked as high as 11^th in the region.
 
"For both the men and women, I just want them to have a sense of pride in who they are and what they've done this year and to finish out strong," Hunter said.
 
Wichita State hopes to place multiple athletes in the top 25, which would earn those runners all-region recognition. Miranda Dick and Jackson Caldwell are coming off all-conference performances at the American Athletic Conference Championships, and they, along with Adam Rzentkowski and Zander Cobb will aim for those all-region spots.

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HOW TO ADVANCE TO THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS:
A team's advancement to the national championship is dependent on their performance at the regional championships. Once the regionals have concluded, the top two teams in each regional — there are nine in total — automatically qualify for the championships, which equates to 18 automatic qualifiers. The NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee will then choose 13 at-large teams to fill out the 31-team field.

At-large team selections are based firstly on their performance at regionals, making the third- and fourth-place teams the most likely candidates.

Regular and postseason (up until the championships) results combine to create a detailed resume of a team's performance throughout the season, and that resume is also looked over by the subcommittee to determine at-large championship selections. The amount of regular season points and specifically the wins against teams that have already qualified or been selected to the national championships really matter here.

From the regional, the first four individual finishers who do not belong to an automatic qualifier or an at-large team automatically advance to the championships. All four finishers have to finish in the top 25 within their region. Altogether, 36 individuals automatically qualify and two are chosen at-large, making 38 the grand total. The two at-large selections are the highest placing individuals at a regional that were not automatic qualifiers.