SEMO cross country sending 14 athletes to Midwest Regional

Southeast Missouri State sophomore Nova Ojutkangas finishes in first place at the Redhawk Invite on Friday, Aug. 30, at the Osage Centre.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

During the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference cross-country meet the Redhawks qualified 14 runners for the Midwest Regional. 

Seniors Noah Little and Justin Splitt, juniors Jacob Blassingame, Clayton Eftink, and Byron Sowerby, sophomore Cade McCadams, and freshman Evan Fuller are competing on the men's side. Competing for the women are senior Madelyn Gray, juniors Alayna Sparr and Kayla Vogelsang, sophomores Brooklyn Bender and Nova Ojutkangas, and freshmen Lauren Eftink and Cordelia Hoover.

Little and Ojutkangas were the first Redhawks to cross the finish line at the OVC race, Little finished fourth in the men's race while Ojutkangas finished first in the women's race. SEMO head coach Ryan Lane said both Little and Ojutkangas’ ability to perform well in these races is time and consistency combined with their experience.

“Noah [Little] is a fifth-year senior who's gotten better every single year. While he was fourth, that group of four guys had separated from everybody else until about 600 meters. Even though he took four, there were four guys for 7400 meters together, and a couple of them had a little bit better kick. He started his freshman year finishing back in the 40s and just has gotten better every year,” Lane said. “Nova [Ojutkangas] is a red-shirt sophomore, so she's a third year in school, and since her senior year of high school, she's also had incredibly consistent high-level training without breaks from injury and illness. So both of them have been able to put in a really good body of work over several years.”

Of those 14 runners, five of them are athletes from local high schools. Clayton and Lauren Eftink, siblings from Notre Dame High School, Cade McCadams from Jackson High School, and Alayna Sparr and Evan Fuller both from Farmington High School. Lane said the program lives on local athletes and they are blessed to have high-caliber athletes around the area to recruit.

“We've had plenty of conference champions and national qualifiers in track and field, from Jackson, Notre Dame, Saxony, Cape Central, and Poplar Bluff. We’ve had some from smaller towns as well, you're looking at Essex, East Prairie, and Malden,” Lane said. “We've lived and breathed anything in that 50-mile radius, there's been terrific athletes we've been able to pick up in our program. We take a lot of pride in our local athletes being not just division one capable but regionally and nationally capable.”

Another thing to watch is the youth the Redhawks are sending to the regional, only three seniors will be competing while 11 underclassmen will make the trip. Lane said coming into the year they knew the team would be young but talented.

“Last year, on the women's side, we graduated three out of our top six, so, yes, we're very young this year. While we didn't finish quite as high as last year, our average as a team was only 12 seconds worse on the women's side. So our young kids there are super talented, and that first year is a tough transition, and I would imagine at this time next year, the growth is going to be fantastic on the women's side,” Lane said. “On the men's side, this is kind of a culmination of guys that have grown up together and worked together. We're gonna be very senior heavy next year on the guys' side with five, so it could be a very special year for them next year.”

The 2024 NCAA Midwest regional meet at the Newman Golf Course in Peoria, IL, on Friday, November 15th. The Women's 6K race will begin at 11 a.m., with the Men's 10K race to follow at noon. After the regional, any Redhawks who qualify will travel to Madison, WI, on Saturday, November 23rd to compete in the NCAA Championships.