Central College junior and Pella graduate Caroline McMartin all but assured herself of her second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Championships with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional Saturday at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course.

McMartin, who covered the 6,000-meter course in 22:14.3, improved on last year’s 19th-place regional finish and is a near-lock for a national trip this time. McMartin’s finish was Central’s highest in the regional meet since Angie Berry placed sixth in 2007. The top seven individual finishers in the region who are not part of a qualifying team advance to the national meet and McMartin was the No. 3 finisher among runners not with likely team qualifiers.

McMartin was an individual qualifier for last year’s national meet after finishing 19th at the regional. She placed 118th at the national meet in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dutch head coach Joe Dunham thinks his women’s squad, which finished in fifth place in the 29-team field with 185 points, could land an at-large team berth at the national meet based on the strength of the Midwest Region. 

In addition to McMartin, Central men’s cross country runners Noah Jorgenson (junior, Sidney) and Caleb Silver (senior, Conrad, BCLUW HS) both put themselves in position for berths in the NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country Championships with lofty finishes at the Midwest Regional.

Jorgenson was eighth in the region in 25:19.2 on the 8,000-meter course after placing 28th in last year’s regional meet. Silver, eyeing his second NCAA national meet trip, was 13th Saturday in 25:26.0 after placing 12th in last year’s regional. The Dutch men had a team score of 205 and finished seventh of 32 teams at the regional Saturday. The top seven individual finishers in the region who are not part of a qualifying team also advance. Jorgenson was the No. 3 finisher among those runners and Silver was sixth.

Both Jorgenson and Silver surged down the stretch. Jorgenson was in 13th midway through the race before jumping five spots while Silver was in 23rd, then pushed his way past 10 runners for 13th.

The field will be announced Sunday for the championships, which are next Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Forest Akers Cross Country Course in Lansing, Michigan.