JOPLIN, Mo. – Winona State women's cross country earned the 2025 NCAA Division II Central Region Team Championship and Sophia Taarud earned third place individually to lead the Warriors.
 
Winona State had five runners within the top 31 individual finishers and tallied 99 points as a team to win the Central Region Championship by 14 points over Pittsburg State in a field of 36 teams.
 
Taarud led WSU with a third-place finish, completing the race in 20:48.22. Stella Rusch was the next Warrior to cross the finish line, taking 16th overall at 21:39.98. Ella Voit was right outside the top 20 with a time of 21:42.65. Kelsey Young (21:54.41) and Kylie Anderson (22:00.94) rounded out WSU's top five which secured the regional title.
 
This is the second time in three years that head coach John Hibshman has led Winona State to win the NCAA DII Central Region Championship, and it will be the third straight year WSU will compete in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.
 
The 2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be on Saturday, November 22nd at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wis. hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside. The final site selections for the Championships will be announced on Monday, November 10th on NCAA.com.