ST. JOSEPH, MO – Pittsburg State women clinched their third straight cross country title at the 2024 MIAA Championships at the Griffon Cross Country Course. Emily Diercks of Fort Hays State was crowned the league’s individual champion.
 
All 13 MIAA women’s cross country teams traveled to St. Joseph, Mo., for the 2024 MIAA Cross Country Championships hosted on Saturday, October 26, on the campus of Missouri Western State.
 
A trio of Gorillas placed in the top six to lead Pittsburg State to the 2024 MIAA championship. Pitt State totaled 55 points to take the title with a 15-point lead over the championship’s runner-up. The victory marks the Gorillas’ sixth MIAA women’s cross country crown in the last seven years. The program leads the MIAA with 14 total titles.
 
Pacing the Gorillas first-place squad was redshirt senior Marissa Dick, the 2024 MIAA runner-up, with a time of 21:34.73. Redshirt senior Kate Strader, the championship’s defending runner-up, followed close behind in third place in 21:39.68, while freshman Lorna Rae Pierce placed sixth in 21:47.05.
 
The 2024 MIAA runner-up Rogers State secured its best finish at the MIAA championship since joining the league in 2019. The Hillcats totaled 70 points with all five scoring runners placing in the top 20.   
 
Fort Hays State placed third with 75 points and Northwest Missouri finished fourth with 83 points. Nebraska Kearney concluded the championship’s top five teams with 97 points.
 
Emily Diercks’s win makes back-to-back years of a Tiger taking home the individual title at the MIAA women’s cross country championships. The junior from Hoxie, Kan., downed the field of 106 with a six-kilometer time of 21:30.9 – the 12th-fastest women’s 6k time in MIAA championship history.
 
Below is a list of the final team standings and the All-MIAA performers from the 2024 MIAA Women’s Cross Country Championships. The top ten runners earn First Team All-MIAA honors while finishers 11-20 receive All-MIAA Honorable Mentions honors. To view the final results from the 2024 MIAA Cross Country Championships, click here.

MIAA teams will now prepare for the 2024 NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships, hosted by Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., on November 9. 

 

TEAM SCORES
1st       Pittsburg State – 55 points
2nd      Rogers State – 70 points
3rd       Fort Hays State – 75 points
4th       Northwest Missouri – 83 points
5th       Nebraska Kearney – 97 points
6th       Missouri Southern – 160 points
7th       Washburn – 188 points
8th       Emporia State – 292 points
9th       Central Missouri – 294 points
10th     Missouri Western – 295 points
11th     Arkansas-Fort Smith – 303 points
12th     Newman – 310 points
13th       Central Oklahoma – 379 points
 
FIRST TEAM ALL-MIAA
1st        Emily Diercks (21:30.85) – FHSU
2nd       Marissa Dick (21:34.73) – PSU
3rd        Kate Strader (21:39.68) – PSU
4th        Alyna Thibault (21:41.53) – NW
5th        Lydia McGlocklin (21:43.58) – NW
6th        Lorna Rae Pierce (21:47.05) – PSU
7th        Jaycee Vath (21:49.53) – FHSU
8th        Jenari Lopez (21:59.32) – MSSU
9th        Katie Byrd (22:00.38) – RSU
10th      Jordan Wallace (22:04.18) – RSU
 
ALL-MIAA HONORABLE MENTION
11th      Kassidy Stuckey (22:05.43) – UNK
12th      Claire Bruening (22:05.68) – PSU
13th      Reece Ewoldt (22:11.25) – UNK
14th      Taylor Hoskinson (22:11.25) – FHSU
15th      Eve Weber (22:11.96) – WU
16th      Cadence Cordova (22:12.50) – RSU
17th      Rayna Kucharyski (22:12.78) – RSU
18th      Ashley Riggenbach (22:13.48) – RSU
19th      Ella Buhlke (22:14.79) – UNK
20th      Mayson Hartley (22:15.21) – NW