Carbondale, Ill., was full of collegiate men and women runners this weekend as the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship was held at the Southern Illinois University cross country course in the small Illinois town.

While the Shockers entered the competition with the men ranked sixth and the women ranked fourth in MVC Coaches’ Pre-Championship poll, the men achieved a fifth-place ranking in the actual championship as the women followed expectations, locking in the fourth-place spot.

Sidney Hirsch and Ebeissa Nyandwi led the women’s team in the 5K, running 17:17:62 and 17:25:75, respectively. Hirsch placed sixth, while Nyandwi placed seventh.

“On the women’s side, I was definitely impressed with Sidney and Ebeissa,” head coach Kirk Hunter said. “They ran tremendous races. They really came to compete and did a great job.”

Nyandwi, who is in her last year at Wichita State, was determined to give this race her all.

“I was trying to do the best I could,” Nyandwi said. “I was going to push myself until I got top 10.”

Hirsch and Nyandwi weren’t only awarded for their achievements that day, but also for the season as they earned MVC honors at the championship.

“At the beginning of the season, I had top 10 in mind,” Hirsch said, “and that was pretty much my goal throughout the season, so I was pretty happy with getting sixth and being all-conference.”

Hirsch was also awarded for her academic success by being selected Elite 18 for the top GPA at the race.

“I’m glad I earned that, because it goes to show that academics are also highly prioritized in our lives, and that’s why we are student-athletes and not just athletes,” she said.

While Hirsch was the front-runner for the women’s team, Paul Raymond finished 15th in the men’s race, running a 24:47:07 in the 8K as Ryan Hocker finished 22nd for WSU.

“For the men’s race, I was extremely proud of every guy that ran,” Hocker said. “We obviously did not come out where we wanted to on the team performance list. We definitely wanted to be in the top three.”

The men’s team did do better than projected, placing one spot higher than ranked in the Coaches’ Poll with the help of Raymond, who earned an MVC All-Conference Honorable Mention.

“It was a good race,” Raymond said. “It was a difficult race, and it was very, very competitive. There wasn’t a lot of room to let go.”

Although Raymond said he was happy with his results compared to last year, he is still looking forward to the upcoming regional.

“I’m really excited going into regionals and going into the track season,” Raymond said.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will be competing in the NCAA Midwest Regional meet on Nov. 14 in Peoria, Ill.