Cincy Reporter

Women’s 6K begins at 10:15 a.m. ET, followed by the men’s 8K at 11 a.m. ET.

The University of Cincinnati men's and women's cross country teams will head to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the 2022 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday.

This will be the Bearcats' last appearance at the AAC cross country championships, as UC will be a part of the Big 12 next season.

Seniors Maddie Walker, Carmela Henning and Tyler Wirth will look to repeat their performances from last year's meet as all three earned All-Conference honors.

// 2022 AAC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2022 AAC Cross Country Championships will be hosted by the University of Tulsa and will be held at Mohawk Park. The last time the AAC Cross Country Championships was held in Tulsa was in 2014.

The meet will kick off Friday, Oct. 28, with the women's 6K beginning at 10:15 a.m. ET, followed by the men's 8K at 11 a.m. ET.  The field will consist of all 11 AAC schools.

Fans can watch the action live on ESPN+ or follow along with live results, which can be found here.

// LAST TIME AT THE AAC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The last time at the championship meet, the women's team had their best team AAC finish, placing second overall with 91 points. The men's team also found success, finishing third overall with 79 points.

In the women's 6K, Walker placed fifth overall with a time of 21:30.6 while Henning finished with a time of 22:02.5 for 12th place.

In the men's 8K, Wirth crossed the finish line at the 24:34.3 mark, which earned him eighth place overall.

// COACHES QUOTES

"We are excited to get another opportunity to go test ourselves against very good competition," men's coach Lucas Rothenberger said. "This conference keeps getting better, and we will need to run our best to reach our goals. We have a lot of respect for our competition, but we believe strongly in our own abilities. It'll be fun to see how we compete on Friday"

"It's been so incredible watching this group of women progress through this 2022 cross country season," women's coach Sarah Anderson said. "This is probably the most competitive group of women Cincinnati has ever had, so I am just excited and proud of this group. They are confident, strong, and thriving off of each other's energy. We have some big goals and would love to end our last conference meet in the AAC on a high note."

 

// TOP SEASON PERFORMERS

Walker has had quite the season for Cincinnati, as she has been UC's top scorer at every meet this season. The Batavia, Ohio native became the first Bearcat to earn AAC cross country women's athlete of the week honors. She has won the last two installments of the bi-weekly award. Walker has recorded personal-best times in her last two meets, including a 6k personal-best time of 20:44.1 at the Bradley Pink Classic, placing 18th overall. She will be making her third appearance at the AAC Championships, as she earned All-Conference honors last season.

Redshirt Senior Rylee Penn is coming off her best race of the season at the Bradley Pink Classic, where she ran a personal-best 6K time of 20:50.0, placing 21st overall. She has been a solid contributor all season, as she has completed each race as the second Bearcat to cross the finish line. This will mark Penn's second appearance at the AAC Cross Country Championships, as she placed 36th overall with a time of 21:59.2 at the 2019 AAC Championships.

For the UC men's team, Wirth and graduate student Milo Greder have been a dominant one-two punch.

Wirth earned AAC Male Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors after a sixth-place overall finish with a time of 24:45.84 in his season debut at the Spartan Invite. The last time he competed this season, he ran a personal-best 23:26.0 8K at the Live in Lou Classic. He will be making his fourth appearance at the AAC Championships as he earned All-Conference honors last season.

Greder, a transfer from Iowa State, will look to add more accolades to his already impressive collegiate cross country career. The four-time All-Big 12 cross-country and three-time All-Midwest Region cross country honoree will have the chance to earn All-AAC honors on Friday. He comes into the AAC Championships after an impressive performance at the Live in Lou Classic, where he placed third overall with a time of 23:21.7.

Original source can be found here.