Cross Country: Best Effort Sought at Regionals
November 12, 2010 10:16 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Two weeks after facing the nation’s best competition at the BIG EAST Championships in Syracuse, N.Y., the West Virginia University cross country team will travel to University Park, Pa., to compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Hosted by No. 28 Penn State, the 6K regional begins at noon EST on Saturday and will feature several nationally ranked programs, including No. 19 Princeton in addition to BIG EAST schools No. 1 Villanova and No. 5 Georgetown.
West Virginia enters the contest as the region’s No. 6-ranked school as they will race against other traditionally strong programs Bucknell, La Salle, Maryland, Penn and Rutgers. Over 20 other schools will participate in the meet.
Only two schools from the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 22. Thirteen other at-large teams across the country throughout the 13 NCAA regionals will be selected by the NCAA Division I track and field subcommittee. Teams will come under consideration in the order of their regional finish and decisions will be made based on regular season results. Final selections will be announced on Sunday evening.
As for individual performances at the regional, the committee will select two at-large individuals by identifying the highest non-qualifying individual finishes at the regional meets. From each NCAA regional meet, the first four student-athletes not on a qualifying team will be automatic qualifiers to the NCAA championship meet. All individual automatic qualifiers must finish in the top 25 within their region.
WVU coach Sean Cleary will look to sophomore Kaitlyn Gillespie, juniors Sarah-Anne Brault and Ahna Lewis and redshirt senior Maria Dalzot to assist the team in its quest to achieve a fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships. Also racing will be sophomores Hallie Portner and Aubrey Moskal and redshirt freshman Sarah Martinelli.
Last season, the Mountaineers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after placing third at the regional. Defending national champion Villanova and Princeton took home the top two slots from the meet. Graduated Mountaineers Clara Grandt, Marie-Louise Asselin, and Keri Bland paved the way for the team while current redshirts Kaylyn Christopher and Kate Harrison also placed in the top 25 to earn all-region honors in 2009.
Results from the meet will be posted on www.MSNsportsNET.com.
Hosted by No. 28 Penn State, the 6K regional begins at noon EST on Saturday and will feature several nationally ranked programs, including No. 19 Princeton in addition to BIG EAST schools No. 1 Villanova and No. 5 Georgetown.
West Virginia enters the contest as the region’s No. 6-ranked school as they will race against other traditionally strong programs Bucknell, La Salle, Maryland, Penn and Rutgers. Over 20 other schools will participate in the meet.
Only two schools from the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 22. Thirteen other at-large teams across the country throughout the 13 NCAA regionals will be selected by the NCAA Division I track and field subcommittee. Teams will come under consideration in the order of their regional finish and decisions will be made based on regular season results. Final selections will be announced on Sunday evening.
As for individual performances at the regional, the committee will select two at-large individuals by identifying the highest non-qualifying individual finishes at the regional meets. From each NCAA regional meet, the first four student-athletes not on a qualifying team will be automatic qualifiers to the NCAA championship meet. All individual automatic qualifiers must finish in the top 25 within their region.
WVU coach Sean Cleary will look to sophomore Kaitlyn Gillespie, juniors Sarah-Anne Brault and Ahna Lewis and redshirt senior Maria Dalzot to assist the team in its quest to achieve a fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships. Also racing will be sophomores Hallie Portner and Aubrey Moskal and redshirt freshman Sarah Martinelli.
Last season, the Mountaineers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after placing third at the regional. Defending national champion Villanova and Princeton took home the top two slots from the meet. Graduated Mountaineers Clara Grandt, Marie-Louise Asselin, and Keri Bland paved the way for the team while current redshirts Kaylyn Christopher and Kate Harrison also placed in the top 25 to earn all-region honors in 2009.
Results from the meet will be posted on www.MSNsportsNET.com.
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