Davis and Miller earn All-Region for first time in DC history

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Senior Joe Davis and freshman Eme Miller headed their respective Yellow Jacket cross country squads on Saturday, November 16, as each ran their way to All-Region honors at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Regionals. Miller also set a new school record in the process.

Davis (Ontario, Ohio/Mansfield) and Miller (Portland, Ind./Jay County) are the first cross country athletes to earn NCAA All-Region for Defiance College.

Defiance's Davis already made his mark in the Purple and Gold record books this season when he notched a school-record time at the Wilmington Invitational. Now, the senior will add another accolade to his career as the first men's cross country runner to make All-Region.

The Mansfield High product chalked up a time of 26:05.3 this afternoon that was good for 34th overall of 252 competitors.

Next to cross the finish line for the Yellow Jacket harriers was junior Josh Hilton (Antwerp, Ohio/Antwerp). This was Hilton's fifth time coming in second for DC, as he clocked in a time of 27:49.0 that was good for 148th.

Finishing exactly one place behind him was freshman Clayton Bruggeman (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry) with a mark of 27:49.3. He is now six-of-seven on the season for placing amongst the top-five DC runners.

Senior Madison Murphy (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) was the fourth runner to cross the finish line for the Purple and Gold. Murphy placed 174th with a time of 28:25.5.

Wrapping up the rest of the Defiance competitors were Colin Krick (Hicksville, Ohio/Antwerp Local) with a time of 28:49.5, Adam Grillot (Houston, Ohio/Houston) at 29:14.6 and Andrew Senecal (North Baltimore, Ohio/North Baltimore) with a mark of 29:36.4.

As a team, DC came in 26th of 39 squads running at the regional competition and scored 680 points in the process.

For the Lady Jackets side of the competition, Miller cruised to a time of 22:37.9 in the race. The first-year runner originally established the DC 6k record two weekends ago at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

But Miller was able to put together an even better outing this afternoon at the NCAA Regionals and shave over 16 seconds off of her record time from the conference championships.

For the rest of the Purple and Gold women's cross country team all six runners finished within 20 places of each other, as they crossed the finish line anywhere from 204th through 222nd.

Grabbing second for Defiance was Marissa Bussard (Whitehall, Ohio/Bloom-Carroll) with a time of 26:29.6. It was tied for her best finish amongst the Lady Jacket runners this season.

The third DC runner to cross the finish line was Brittany Holmes (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) two places behind Bussard at 26:39.6. Five times this season, Holmes has been the third Yellow Jacket to complete the meet.

The next two runners for Defiance were Kelsey Bowling (Sidney, Ohio/Houston) at 26:40.0 and Kyrsten King (Ney, Ohio/Fairview) at 27:03.2.

Rounding out the rest of the Purple and Gold was Sadie Daeger (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) at 27:37.3 and Taylor Traut (Bettisville, Ohio/Bettisville) at 27:46.7.

DC as a team completed the race in 33rdof 39 schools competing on the afternoon with a total of 818 points.

With the conclusion of the competition, the Yellow Jacket men's cross country team's season comes to a close. However, with Miller's outstanding performance this afternoon, there is an outside chance that she will qualify for NCAA Nationals next weekend.

The selection committee for the NCAA will announce the competitors for the national competition on Monday.