Cyclone Women Book Return to National Championship with Midwest Regional Win

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women's cross country team won the 2026 NCAA Midwest Regional on its home course Friday morning, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship next weekend. Four Cyclones finished in the top 25 and earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.

With the win, the ISU women also secured two points for the Cyclones in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series as Iowa finished 20^th overall.

Betty Kipkore and Rosemary Longisa once again paced the Cyclones after earning all-conference honors at the Big 12 Championships on October 31. Kipkore finished second in 19:19.9 while Longisa was on her heels for third in 19:20.0. Mercy Kibet was also a top five individual finisher with a time of 19:30.0. Mercyline Kirwa rounded out the all-regionalists for ISU with a 23^rd-place individual finish in her first meet of the season.

Makayla Clark finished 39^th, making place improvements at each checkpoint throughout the race. Ruby Hughes also had a strong finish, going from 125^th at the 5K mark to jumping six spots at the finish line to 119^th. Olivia Verde rounded out the Cyclone squad in 137^th overall.

"What a day!" said director of cross country/track and field Jeremy Sudbury. "The weather was awesome, the course was beautiful and we had an incredible crowd. We're really appreciative for our administration and all the support we had today. And looking at performances, I mean, the women. First off, unbelievable. Plug in Mercyline Kirwa after coming back from an injury, and that's the kind of team we felt like we've had all year, and to finally do it here at the NCAA Regional Championship at home… Couldn't be more of Coach Laura (Harmon) and Coach Katie (Osika) and what they're able to do in regards to the month of November and getting ready for postseason."

The group of women paced themselves well on their home course, holding steady with the lead pack throughout the first half of the race. With many runners still competing in the lead group, the Cyclones carefully climbed the team standings from 12^th to fifth to fourth over the first three checkpoints at each kilometer mark. By 4.29K, the Cyclones had claimed the top spot and did not give it up, holding an 89-101 edge over Oklahoma State at the checkpoint. The Cowgirls got within 11 points with just 1K to go, but Iowa State finished strong to comfortably take the team title, 72-91.

Team Results
1. No. 25 Iowa State, 72; 2. No. 8 Oklahoma State, 91; 3. No. 21 Northwestern, 113; 4. No. 20 Missouri, 152; 5. No. 2 Minnesota, 155; 6. Oklahoma, 195; 7. North Dakota, 213; 8. Bradley, 253; 9. Kansas, 281; 10. South Dakota, 301; 11. Illinois State, 304; 12. Nebraska, 363; 13. Illinois, 393; 14. Tulsa, 396; 15. North Dakota State, 430; 16. St. Thomas (MN), 454; 17. Saint Louis, 482; 18. South Dakota State, 514; 19. Loyola, 517; 20. Iowa, 534; 21. Missouri State, 557; 22. Drake, 591; 23. Kansas State, 594; 24. Wichita State, 600; 25. DePaul, 654; 26. Northern Iowa, 749; 27. UIC, 790; 28. Northern Illinois, 815; 29. Southeast Missouri, 873; 30. Creighton, 915; 31. Western Illinois, 955; 32. SIUE, 996; 33. Eastern Illinois, 1005; 34. Omaha, 1019; 35. Chicago State, 1165

Individual Results
1. Billah Jepkirui, Oklahoma State, 19:18.9; 2. Betty Kipkore, Iowa State, 19:19.9; 3. Rosemary Longisa, Iowa State, 19:20.0; 5. Mercy Kibet, Iowa State, 19:30.0; 23. Mercyline Kirwa, 20:01.6; 39. Makayla Clark, Iowa State, 20:28.1; 119. Ruby Hughes, Iowa State, 21:30.2; 137. Olivia Verde, Iowa State, 21:41.6

Up Next
Iowa State travels to Terre Haute, Ind. next Saturday, November 21 for the NCAA Championship. The women's 6K race will begin at 9:20 am CT with the men's 10K to follow at 10:10 am CT. Both races will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Players Mentioned

Ruby Hughes

Mercy Kibet

Betty Kipkore

Mercyline Kirwa

Rosemary Longisa

Olivia Verde

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics

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