With a season of highs and lows, the Kansas cross country team wanted to end the season on a high going into its final meet. And sure enough, it accomplished that goal as both men’s and women’s teams placed in the top 10 at the Midwest Regional over the weekend.

The meet was held in Stillwater, Okla., at the OSU Cross Country Course, a familiar course for the team as it had previously raced there on Oct. 4, at the OSU Jamboree.

First was the Women’s 6K where Minnesota took first overall. The Jayhawks took seventh place overall with the help of a top-20 finish by junior Lauren Bonds.

Bonds finished 16th overall and was the front-runner for Kansas for the sixth consequtive the team with a 6K time of 21:29. With the performance that Bonds had Saturday, there’s a chance that she could make it to the NCAA Championships that will be held Nov. 24 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Bonds will have to wait until Monday to find out officially if she qualified for nationals.

Coming in 35th place and second for the Jayhawks was Amanda Miller. The sophomore finished with a time of 21:53.

“It was nice to have to run the course twice,” Miller said.

Miller said she improved from the previous year at regionals, but the windy conditions played a factor. She also said the wind prevented anybody from setting any personal records.

Redshirt freshman Kara Windisch came in third for the team and 60th overall followed by sophomore Alison Knoll in 65th and senior Megan James in 80th place. It was the final meet for James before going into the track and field season.

Soon came the Men’s 10K. It was the first time all season that the team had to run a 10K, which Oklahoma State won. For the third straight meet, freshman Donny Wasinger finished as the front-runner for the team and 29th overall with a time of 32:09.

Right behind Wasinger was junior Bret Imgrund at 31st overall and second for the team with a personal best time of 32:11.

In 59th overall and third was Kaleb Humphreys. Humphreys filled in for fellow freshman Zach Zarda who was forced to sit out the rest of the season because of injuries.

Humphrey said that he actually preferred the 10K distance over the normal 8K.

“It gave me more time to gain ground on some talented people,” he said. “I ran conservatively at the beginning and it helped when I needed energy.”

Both teams came into the meet ranked No. 10 and in the end cracked the top 10.

“We did better than we expected,” said Humphreys.

— — Edited by Arthur Hur