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Mountaineers Ready for NCAA Regional
November 12, 2015 02:16 PM | Cross Country
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University cross country team heads to Princeton, New Jersey, to compete at the 2015 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 13, at noon. Princeton will host the event, with the women’s 6k race on the West Windsor Fields.
“This is what we’ve been training for all year,” said coach Sean Cleary. “We are healthy and rested, and we want our best effort of the year.”
Live results can be found at Runccrs.com. Additionally, a live blog can be followed at USTFCCCA.org.
The Mountaineers are coming off a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championship on Oct. 31. Three Mountaineers posted top-25 finishes with sophomores Maggie Drazba in 19th (21:34.5), Millie Paladino in 21st and Brynn Harshbarger in 22nd, respectively.
A total of 39 teams will compete at the regional, for a chance to qualify to the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship, set for Nov. 21 in Louisville, Kentucky. In order for a team to earn an automatic qualification, it will have to race for a top-two finish. Only 36 individual runners will automatically advance to nationals, if they are the top-four individual finishers that place in the top 25 at their regional meet. Those runners cannot be on an NCAA qualifying team. Two additional athletes also will be selected from the remainder of the national group and will receive at-large bids, but the runners must finish in the top 25 in their region.
“This is the first round of the NCAA Championship, and we expect to put ourselves in position to have no regrets,” said Cleary. “The weather looks to be a big factor in tomorrow’s race with winds expected to be near 40 mph. We simply need to get out and execute our plan, and let the chips fall into place.”
Penn State is ranked No. 1 in the region rankings by USTFCCCA, followed by Georgetown (No. 2), Princeton (No. 3), Villanova (No. 4), Penn (No. 5) and West Virginia (No. 6). Four teams also are nationally ranked: No. 10 Princeton, No. 14 Georgetown, No. 23 Princeton and No. 26 Villanova.
In 2014, West Virginia finished second at regionals, earning the team an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championship. The Mountaineers had five of the top-15 finishes, and all five runners earned NCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors. The team garnered its seventh qualification in eight seasons under coach Cleary.
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