SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - At Blue River Memorial Park, the Adrian cross country team fielded both a men's and women's team in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional for the first time since 2017.

Behind a 37th-place effort by Robert Diebold, the Bulldog men turned in their best team performance in seven years, finishing 20th in a field of 42 schools.

As for the women, the black and gold raced to a 28th-place finish in their return to the regional stage.

Diebold, who ran the meet's third-best two-kilometer time of 6:10.6, paced the Adrian harriors with a final time of 25:51.6.

Brett Carlisle fell in at 85th overall with an eight-kilometer time of 26:39.2, followed by Caleb Billings (27:09.7), Michael Spurio (27:41.3), Clayton Lynch (28:06.1), Dontae Hamilton (29:31.2) and Alec Grzegorek (29:37.6).

Spurio, who ran in the last regional race in Shelbyville back in 2018, saw a near-50 second improvement from his final time three years ago.

On the women's side of the race, Emme Koutz became the first Adrian women's cross-country runner to break the 24-minute threshold in over four years, posting a personal-best time of 23:49.2.

Syndey Feekings, who like Spurio competed at Blue River Memorial during the 2018 season, secured a time of 25:24.6, wiping almost a full minute off her final time from that year's race.

Mallory Bowker (26:28.9), Sydney Wilkie (27:20.5), Bailey Mruzik (27:36.5), Alyssa Brooks (28:06.1) and Teegan Dawson (28:07.5) rounded out the field for the Bulldogs.

"We're very excited about how the team performed today in the largest, most competitive field we have seen this year," expressed head coach Brian Thill. "There was some big-time personal-records set today, including Emme (Koutz)."

Saturday's action in Indiana marked the end of the 2021 campaign for the Adrian cross country team. The black and gold now turn their attention to the upcoming indoor track and field season, which is slated to begin on January 15th at Trine University.

"Coach Sutton has done a tremendous job this season," added Thill. "So we're looking to keep moving forward and keep building on each meet and season."