Braving chilly morning temperatures at the Iowa State Cross Country Course on Friday, Missouri cross country put its spikes to work with top performances at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Ames. Additionally, four Tigers, Monica Wanjiku, Rahel Broemmel, Jean Kipchumba and Elijah Limo earned USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honors.
The Mizzou women matched last year’s regional finish by taking fourth overall with 152 points in a 237-runner field, finishing behind Iowa State, Oklahoma State and
Northwestern while edging out fifth-place Minnesota and sixth-place Oklahoma. On the men’s side, the Tigers improved two spots from last year’s seventh-place showing, taking fifth overall in the 10K with 159 points behind seven new personal bests.
Women’s 6K led by Wanjiku
All seven Mizzou runners placed inside the top 105 in the 237-athlete field, led once again by Wanjiku. Running alongside Oklahoma State’s Billah Jepkirui, who won the individual title in 19:18.9, Wanjiku crossed the line sixth overall in 19:30.5. Although shy of her personal best, the mark bested her sixth-place regional time of 20:10.1 from a year ago by nearly 40 seconds.
Broemmel delivered one of the biggest year-over-year jumps for the Tigers, surging from 48th at regionals last season at 21:39.9 to 20th overall on Friday in 19:58.4.
Suzy Lecoutre followed in 29th at 20:12.4, shaving more than a minute off her 30th-place finish in 2025, while Mirriam Chepkirui finished 38th in 20:27.7. Kobi Walker rounded out Mizzou’s top five runners in 59th place at 20:42.4, while Charlotte Cullen claimed 84th and Morgan Yeomans finished in 101st to close out the Tigers’ lineup.
Men’s 10K of personal bests
Freshman Kipchumba wasted no time making his mark in his first career regional appearance, running near the front of the pack to claim third overall in 28:52.6. Kipchumba also posted the fastest 10K time by a Tiger at an NCAA regional meet.
His result fell just behind individual champion Brian Musau of Oklahoma State at 28:47.1.
Behind Kipchumba, Mizzou’s veterans rewrote their personal record books across the board. Limo placed 25th in a personal-best 29:25.1, dropping nearly 90 seconds from his 30:53.4 mark at regionals last year.
Making his regional debut, Emmanuel Kiprop finished 42nd in 29:56.1, just ahead of Raymond Kipkoech in 45th. Kipkoech clocked a personal-best 29:57.6, improving 68 spots and more than three minutes from his 113th-place finish in 2025.
Tyler Freiner closed out the Tigers’ top five in 48th with a personal-best 30:01.2, up from 81st last year, while Joshua Allison claimed 53rd at 30:07.5 and Carter Spradling took 55th at 30:09.9. Both Allison and Spradling set new 10K personal bests to cap off a strong team effort.
Meet results: https://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?mid=9295&en=1-1
What’s Next
With the automatic qualifying spots claimed by the top two teams in each race, both Mizzou squads will await at-large bids when the NCAA Cross Country Championship selections are announced Saturday, Nov. 14. The NCAA Championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 21, at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
To read more about Missouri’s cross country team, follow@Rock MNation and@SophBleedsLA on twitter/X. Photos are courtesy of Mizzou TFXC photographer Dan Murphy at@danmurphmedia on Instagram.
