WAVERLY—With a determined finishing kick to the best race of her memorable career, Central College's all-American Caroline McMartin (senior, Pella) took second place at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championships Saturday and likely helped her team gain its third NCAA national team berth in school history.
           
McMartin, who was in seventh at the 900-meter mark, steadily climbed throughout the race and finished the 6,000-meter course in a school-record 20:52.3, nearly chasing down Wartburg College's Lexi Brown, who won in 20:51.6. McMartin's previous best of 21:16 was on somewhat gentler terrain at the Connecticut College Invitational Oct. 14. She and Megan Johnson (senior, Parkersburg, Aplington-Parkersburg HS) are assured of at least gaining individual national meet berths as Johnson finished eighth in 21:27.7, just 4 seconds off her career best. The top seven individual finishers in the region who are not part of a qualifying team advance.
           
Ranked No. 16 in the USTFCCCA Division III national coaches' poll, Central was an impressive third in the competitive 33-team regional field, withstanding a late push from No. 11-ranked Washington-St. Louis (Mo.). The host school, No. 5-ranked Wartburg College took the title with 37 points, upsetting the No. 2-rated University of Chicago, which had 47. Central followed with 84 while Washington-St. Louis had 88. Those four squads easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field as North Central College (Ill.) was fifth with 241 and Illinois Wesleyan University had 246.
           
The 32-team NCAA Division III Championships will be staged next Saturday at noon (Eastern Time) at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania. The champions of Saturday's 10 regional meets receive automatic national berths while the remaining 22 teams in the 32-team field are chosen at-large. The field will be announced late Sunday morning on NCAA.com. Central was in the running for a national berth last year after finishing fifth in the regional but was not selected. Given the region's strength, Dunham thinks this year's squad is well-positioned for its first national team berth since 2009. Central's only other NCAA meet team appearance was in 1981, when the Dutch won the first-ever women's championship. They also made AIAW national meet appearances in 1979 and 1980.
           
"Obviously we have to wait for sure but I'm 99.9% sure that we're in," Dunham said.
           
McMartin, meanwhile, is assured of her third national berth after qualifying as an individual the past two seasons. She gained all-America distinction by placing 24th nationally last year.
           
"The top three runners kind of broke off and Caroline actually fell off (to third)," Dunham said. "But then with about 300 meters to go, she just kind of found a gear, got the runner from Chicago almost got Lexi (Brown). It was a really good effort and what I was most proud of with Caroline was her mental ability to stay in the race all the way to the end. She didn't give up on those other runners. Usually when there's a gap like that in the last 800 meters it's kind of a done deal but she kind of flipped the switch. She had a lot of fight in her until the end."
           
Her second-place showing Saturday was Central's highest since Cam Ratering's regional race victory in 1981. McMartin was 19th in the 2021 regional meet and 11th last year.
           
Dunham liked Johnson's effort as well.
           
"Megan ran a really gutsy race," he said. "She was kind of in between the lead pack and the chase pack there for a while but then she just started reeling them in. She really made some great moves. She's a tough runner and ran a really smart race."
           
But McMartin and Johnson didn't do it by themselves. Following Johnson were Addison Parrott (junior, Danville) and Kira Hooper (junior, Hendersonville, N.C., Citrus Valley HS) in 16th and 17th, respectively. Parrott, 40th in last year's regional, finished in a career-best 22:02.7 while Hooper also topped her previous best, finishing in 22:05.5. Central's other scorer was Lindsey Davidson (senior, Northwood, Northwood-Kensett HS), who turned her career best as well with 23:04.2 to finish 39th. She was closely followed by Leah Bontrager (sophomore, Wellman, Hillcrest Academy) in 40th in 23:05.7, just off her career-best of 23:05, with Hailey Hill (5th-year, Las Vegas, Nev., Palo Verde HS) 45th in a personal-best 23:04.2.
           
"I can't say enough Addy and Kira, the improvements they have made are really a huge reason why we are in the position we're in," Dunham said. "I was really proud of everybody today. It was a really good day for the Dutch."