COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou women's cross country team and freshman Jean Kipchumba have earned selections to the NCAA Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Nov. 21, at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. The women's race is slated for 9:20 a.m. CT, followed by the men's race at 10:10 a.m.

The women will make their 14th appearance at the NCAA Championship and have earned back-to-back selections for the first time since 2002-04, when they made three straight appearances. They finished fourth at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Ames, Iowa, on Friday. The women scored 152 points and earned a pair of United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Midwest Region honors before receiving an at-large bid.

"Excited to be headed to another NCAA Championship and continue to establish ourselves year over year as a consistent national power," head cross country coach Kyle Levermore said. "We certainly did not have our best day yesterday as a team, but the goal was always to advance to next Saturday and I know it's left the women hungry to show what we're capable of with the experience from last year's in our back pocket."

With their qualification, the Tigers are one of 32 women's programs competing at the NCAA Cross Country Championship. Automatic bids were awarded to the top two teams from each of the nine regions, with the NCAA selecting 14 additional at-large teams to complete the field.

Sophomore Monica Wanjiku led the women, placing sixth at the NCAA Midwest Regional. She became the eighth Mizzou woman to earn back-to-back USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honors and the first since Karissa Schweizer in 2017. Senior Rahel Broemmel earned her first career USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honor, placing 20th in 19:58.4.

At last year's NCAA Cross Country Championship, hosted in Columbia at Gans Creek Cross Country Course, Mizzou placed 28th with 632 points in its first appearance at the national championship since 2016. Wanjiku paced the Tigers in 19:17.4, a personal-best 6K time by eight seconds. Her finish marked the second time a Mizzou women's freshman earned All-America honors, joining Andrea Fischer (1981).

Throughout the 2026 season, the women's team has placed ninth or better in every meet. The Tigers won the Gans Creek Classic, their first Gans Creek Classic victory since 2019 and first home victory since the 2025 Mizzou XC Opener. A fourth-place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championship included a pair of All-SEC honors. In their third appearance at the Nuttycombe Invitational, the Tigers earned their highest finish in ninth.

On the men's side, Kipchumba will represent the Tigers after placing third at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship. His 28:52.6 was the fastest 10K by a Tiger at an NCAA Regional, and his finish is the second-best by a Mizzou man at an NCAA Regional meet.

"Jean has had a wonderful season to this point and it's always special when an athlete makes their first NCAA Championship," Levermore said. "Super proud of him but we also know that there still are goals to achieve next week."

Kipchumba has collected USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region, All-SEC Second Team and All-SEC Freshman Team honors. He led the men to a fourth-place finish at the SEC Championship at Gans Creek with his eighth-place result in 22:32.2. His time is the fastest 8K run by a Tiger at Gans Creek and at an SEC Championship, surpassing Drew Rogers' 22:54.1 from 2024.

The last man to represent Mizzou at the NCAA Cross Country Championship was senior Marquette Hanson in 2022, when he finished 174th in Stillwater, Okla., at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course.

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