Gabriel Phillips of the Hillsdale College men's cross country team put his best foot forward as he tries to make the NCAA DII Championship meet on Nov. 22.

Phillips, a senior, ran a strong race for the Chargers at the NCAA DII Midwest Regional on Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin, placing 10th in an extremely tough regional field with a 10K time of 30:42.5, a personal best and one of the fastest cross country 10Ks in program history. With the finish, Phillips also earns his first All-Region honor in cross country at the NCAA DII level, to go with two all-conference honors.

The placement also gives Phillips a strong case to be one of the individuals in the field at the NCAA DII Men's Cross Country Championships, to be contested back in Kenosha on Nov. 22. If the fourth-place team in the Midwest Regional finish, Tiffin, earns an at-large spot, Phillips would qualify automatically as the second-fastest finisher among non-qualifying team in the regional. Even if the Dragons are left out, Phillips also could earn one of eight at-large spots to compete as an individual as well.

As a team, Hillsdale placed a respectable 11th in a tough field in the event, and fourth among G-MAC teams, edging out Findlay for the 11th place spot after finishing behind the Oilers at the G-MAC Championships. Along with Phillips' top-10 finish, the Chargers got a strong race from junior Caleb Youngstedt, who just missed All-Region honors with a 32nd place finish in a career-best time of 31:41.7. Senior Nathaniel Osborne also set a new personal best in a cross country 10K and placed 66th in 32:25.2 for Hillsdale, while two freshmen racing their first collegiate 10Ks rounded out the Chargers' scoring runners, with John Richardson placing 75th in 32:34.1 and Jefferson Regitz placing 105th in 32:59.9.

Sophomore Will Winsor placed 133rd as well for Hillsdale in 33:47.5, and senior Emil Schlueter took 146th in 34:11.9. 

Phillips will find out if he's earned a spot in the national meet field on Nov. 10, when qualifiers are announced on NCAA.com, while the rest of the squad now turns its focus to the indoor track and field campaign, set to begin in early December.