SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Junior Brogan Austin battled difficult conditions and one of the most talented fields in the country to finish 27th Friday (Nov. 9) at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Midwest Regional.

Austin's time of 31:06.17 on the 10-kilometer course at Missouri State University was just six seconds away from making the all-regional team, as well as qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country Championship.

The team finished with 487 team points, which placed them in 16th place of 30 schools competing.  

The regional was the first time this season the Bulldogs had run a grueling 10-kilometer race and it took some getting used to.

"It was a tough last race of the season," sophomore Conor Wells (Des Moines, Iowa) said. "The step up to 10k was definitely a new challenge, but we stepped up and raced hard."

Wells was the fourth Drake runner to cross the finish line. His time of 33:17.80 was good  for 123rd place.

Rob McCann (Mississauga, Ontario) had the second best time for the Bulldogs. The freshman finished in 94th place in his first NCAA Regional experience. McCann was followed by fifth-year senior Charlie Lapham (Golden Valley, Minn.), who came in 106th place, finishing the course in 32:58.87, in his last NCAA Regional race.

Aside from Lapham, each member of the Drake contingent is expected to return next season for another shot at qualifying for the national championship.

"The good thing is a lot of us will be back next year with this experience under our belt and gain more maturity from it," Wells said.

Junior Ian Harkreader (Arvada, Colo.) closed out the Bulldogs scoring on the afternoon, coming in 142nd-place in 33:46.04.

Juniors Guy Eckman (Iowa City, Iowa), 34:01.67, and Ryan Flynn (Bettendorf, Iowa), 35:46.39, finished in 151st and 180th respectively.

There were 190 individual runners competing from 30 schools at the regional. Chris O'Hare of Tulsa won the meet in a time of 30:25.87. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State each earned 45 points to tie for the team victory. They were followed closely by Tulsa's team score of 47.

This marks the final meet of the season for the Drake squad, which will now switch its attention to the upcoming indoor track and field season.