USTFCCCA News & Notes
WEEKEND RECAP: DI Regionals
Here are recaps from a wild day in NCAA Division I Cross Country.
Thirty-six men’s and women’s teams punched their tickets to next week’s NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, while others will have to wait until Saturday to find out if they earned an at-large selection.
Scroll down the page to relive the day as it happened, starting with the South Region and ending out West.
South Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 27 Vanderbilt, No. 17 Mississippi State
Projected Individuals: Chelsea Blaase, Tennessee; Katelyn Greenleaf, Alabama; Hannah Wittman, Belmont; Brenda Kigen, Auburn.
Vanderbilt and Mississippi State punched their tickets to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
As did Tennessee’s Chelsea Blaase, Alabama’s Katelyn Greenleaf, Belmont’s Hannah Wittman and Auburn’s Brenda Kigen.
The Commodores won their second consecutive region title, this time by a more comfortable margin. Vanderbilt topped the Bulldogs by 13 points, 65-78, a far cry from last year’s nailbiter over Florida State (1 point). The Seminoles finished fourth, putting an end to a streak of nine consecutive years where they advanced to NCAAs.
Alabama was third overall with 135 points. The Crimson Tide fell back from Vandy and MSU in the final 2K of the race.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: Florida State (RV), Ole Miss
Projected Individuals: Antibahs Kosgei, Alabama; Arse’ne Guillorel, Samford; Jimmy Clark & Eddie Garcia, Florida
Florida State and Ole Miss are going to the NCAA Championships.
It was a tight race as FSU emerged victorious over the 2014 region champ Rebels, 58-62. Ole Miss made a move at 8K to take a 58-71 lead, but FSU responded late to reclaim the lead.
Harry Mulenga was third for FSU, which reclaimed the South crown for the first time since back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012.
Florida was third with 109 points and Georgia was fourth with 136, but it’s unlikely either team will earn at-large berths. Florida will at least be represented by two individuals in fourth-place Clark and fifth-place Garcia.
South Central Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 3 Arkansas, Texas
Projected Individuals: Maggie Montoya, Baylor; Cali Roper, Rice; Karis Jochen, Texas A&M; Verity Ockenden, Lamar
As expected, Arkansas and Dominique Scott ran away with the team and individual titles in the South Central Region.
The third-ranked Razorbacks, led by Scott’s 15-second win, scored 40 points and crushed the field. Unranked Texas (105 points) punched its ticket to NCAAs with a runner-up finish.
Scott employed the same sit-and-kick strategy she used on this same course at the SEC Championships. In a tight pack at 4K, Scott turned on the jets and won in 19:35.3.
Finishing behind Scott were Baylor’s Maggie Montoya (19:50.3), Rice’s Cali Roper (19:53.9), Texas A&M’s Karis Jochen (19:56.7) and Arkansas’ Kaitlin Flattmann (20:00.7).
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 8 Arkansas, Texas (RV)
Projected Individuals: Brian Barraza, Houston; Iliass Aouani, Lamar; Charles Mathenge, Stephen F. Austin (8th); Isaac Lalang, Ark-Little Rock (9th)
The USTFCCCA Regional Rankings held to form as national No. 8 Arkansas and Texas advanced to the NCAA Championships. The Razorbacks got the win over the Longhorns, 51-69, with Gabe Gonzales and Frankline Tonui finishing third and fourth overall. Arkansas had four of the top 13 finishers.
Texas got fifth- and seventh-place finishes from Jacob Pickle and Brady Turnbull.
Texas A&M edged out Lamar for third, 85-95, but it is unlikely either team will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
Barraza of Houston took the win over Aouani of Lamar by two seconds in 30:07.3.
Southeast Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 North Carolina State
Projected Individuals: Letitia Saayman, Coastal Carolina; Ednah Kurgat, Liberty; Samantha Jones, Wake Forest; Allie Buchalski, Furman
Virginia and NC State put on a team-racing clinic at Panorama Farms.
The Cavaliers and Wolfpack crossed the finish line in clumps and earned automatic bids to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Virginia went 7-11-12-13-15 and scored 53 points, while the Wolfpack took second with 74 points following an 8-9-16-18-28 finish.
No. 28 North Carolina finished third (100 points), No. 22 Williams and Mary – running without Emily Stites – was fourth (187) and Eastern Kentucky rounded out the top-5 teams.
Coastal Carolina’s Letitia Saayman won the individual title in 20:25.1, three seconds ahead of Liberty’s Ednah Kurgat. The rest of the top-5 included Wake Forest’s Samantha Jones, Furman’s Allie Buchalski and William and Mary’s Regan Rome.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: Louisville (unranked), No. 12 Virginia
Projected Individuals: Thomas Curtin, Virginia Tech (IF 6th-place Va Tech doesn’t get at-large bid); Shaun Thompson, Duke; Stephen Mulherin, North Carolina); Jacob Thomson, Kentucky; Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell (IF Virginia Tech does get at-large bid)
With four legitimate frontrunners, we knew unranked Louisville could be dangerous if the Cardinals could find a strong No. 5 runner. They proved that on Friday with a 77-96 win in the Southeast Region over No. 12 Virginia. Led by third-place Edwin Kibichiy, they put four in the top-13 with a fifth in 36th.
It was topsy-turvy in the team standings as No. 26 Eastern Kentucky was third (113 points), No. 13 Furman was fourth (133), No. 10 NC State was fifth (160) and No. 18 Virginia Tech was sixth (160).
It was projected that the Southeast could get six bids into the NCAA Championship (two automatic, four at-large) and that appears to potentially be the case.
Thomas Curtin got his third win of the season in 29:07.9, topping Duke’s Shaun Thompson by four seconds.
Mid-Atlantic Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 10 Penn State, No. 14 Georgetown
Projected Individuals: Blanca Fernandez, Temple; Princeton’s Emily de La Bruyere & Elizabeth Bird (IF Princeton doesn’t get an at-large team bid); Ashley Montgomery; Angel Piccirillo, Villanova (IF Princeton doesn’t get at-large team bid); Morgan Szekely, La Salle (IF Princeton doesn’t get at-large team bid)
Penn State won their first region title since 2012, defeating 2014 region champ Georgetown, 60-75.
Tessa Barrett (4th), Tori Gerlach (6th) and Elizabeth Chikotas (10th) all finished top-10 for the Nittany Lions.
Led by ninth-place Andrea Keklak, Georgetown put four in the top-15.
Princeton finished third with 80 points and could get an at-large NCAA Championships berth.
Individually, Temple’s Blanca Fernandez took the win in a sprint to the finish over Princeton’s Emily de la Bruyere and Elizabeth Bird. Fernandez crossed the line in 20:52.0.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 15 Georgetown, No. 23 Penn
Projected Individuals: Patrick Tiernan, Villanova (winner); Hassan Omar, UMBC; Rob Denault, Villanova; Jordy Williamsz, Villanova
Georgetown got the win over Penn, 44-60. Penn will be making its first NCAA Championships apperance since 1975.
Villanova – a preseason top-10 national team – finished third with 67 points and will likely not qualify to the NCAA Championships unless they manage to get pushed in by fourth-place Princeton (102 points).
Led by runner-up Jonathan Green, Georgetown put four runners in the top-10.
Penn, led by fourth-place finisher Tommy Awad, showed its depth with five across in the top 23 and was the first with six across in 28th.
Villanova was the best team through three runners with winner Tiernan, fifth-place Denault and seventh-place Williamsz, and Harry Warnick was strong in 13th, but the Wildcats were doomed by a 39th-place effort by No. 5 man Harry Warnick.
They need to be pushed in by Princeton, as they Wildcats did not amass any meaningful head-to-head wins for at-large consideration during the regular season.
Northeast Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: t-No. 4 Providence, No. 19 Syracuse
Projected Individuals: Dana Giordano, Dartmouth; Christina Melian, Stony Brook; Natalie Schudrowitz, Brown; Courtney Smith, Harvard
Providence put four runners in the top-15 and made quick work of the field in the Northeast Region. The Friars scored 49 points, putting themselves well ahead of runner-up Syracuse (92) and third-place Brown (139).
Dartmouth’s Dana Giordano earned the individual win by four seconds over Providence’s Sarah Collins. Giordano crossed the finish line in 20:25.7, four seconds ahead of Collins’ 20:29.0. Also finishing in the top-5 were Stony Brook’s Christina Melian (third), Brown’s Natalie Schudrowitz (fourth) and Harvard’s Courtney Smith (fifth).
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 2 Syracuse, No. 9 Iona
Projected Individuals: Kevin Dooney, Yale; TBA
As expected, Syracuse and Iona rolled over the field at the Northeast Regional. Cuse won with 29 points, while Iona scored 40.
Syracuse went 1-2-3 behind Justyn Knight, Colin Bennie and Martin Hehir. Joel Hubbard and Dan Lennon rounded into better form than the regular season with 11th and 12th-place efforts.
Iona was led by Kieran Clements in fourth, followed by three more in the top-10 in Gilbert Kirui (6th), Mike O’Dowd (7th) and Chartt Miller (10th).
After that, it was vote-receiving Cornell in third (114) and unranked Dartmouth edging No. 16 Columbia, 153-156. No. 29 Providence was sixth with 169 points.
Cornell has a good shot of making the NCAA Championships field as an at-large, and Columbia might make it and push Dartmouth in along with them.
Individual qualifiers will be affected largely by which of those teams do and do not advance.
Great Lakes Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 7 Michigan, No. 15 Notre Dame
Projected Individuals: Shaelyn Sorensen, Wisconsin; Olivia Pratt, Butler; Hope Schmelzle, Purdue; Maria McDaniel, Western Michigan
Michigan proved Friday that a team is greater than two individuals.
The Wolverines overcame a 1-2 finish by Notre Dame to beat the Irish by 10 points for the Great Lakes Region title. Michigan sent its entire scoring lineup across the finish line before Notre Dame’s third runner crossed.
Those Irish runners were none other than ACC champion Molly Seidel and talented freshman Anna Rohrer. Seidel broke away from the pack late to win by 14 seconds.
Erin Finn once again led Michigan and finished on the edge of the top-5 (fifth). Behind Finn were Anna Pasternak (11th) and the duo of Shannon Osika (16th) and Gina Sereno (17th).
No. 18 Michigan State, running without 2014 All-Americans Lindsay Clark and Rachele Schulist – who were both shut down due to injury – got a third-place finish from Alexis Wiersma. The Spartans will have to rely on an at-large by to get to NCAAs.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 5 Michigan, Michigan State (receiving votes)
Projected Individuals: Matt McClintock, Purdue; Michael Clevenger, Notre Dame (IF fourth-place ND doesn’t get at-large bid); Joseph Stewart, Miami (Ohio), Erik Peterson, Butler; John Mascari, Indiana State (IF Notre Dame does get at-large bid)
As expected, Michigan takes the win with 67 points. Unexpected was vote-receiving Michigan State coming in and finishing runner-up with 88 points.
At-large status for third-place Eastern Michigan is undecided, pending results of the other regionals around the country. The Eagles were third with 102 points ahead of fourth-place Notre Dame with 127, fifth-place Indiana with 141 and sixth-place Wisconsin with 203.
Wisconsin’s finish ends its streak of 43 years in a row qualifying to the NCAA Championships.
Michigan got an individual win from Mason Ferlic among four top-25.
Michigan State put four in the top-29 behind seventh-place Sherod Hardt.
Midwest Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 13 Oklahoma State, No. 16 Iowa State
Projected Individuals: Erin Teschuk, North Dakota State; Alyssa Schneider, Illinois; Sharon Lokedi, Kansas; Rachel Baptista, Tulsa
Oklahoma State is making it a habit to end lengthy Iowa State’s lengthy streaks.
After beating the Cyclones at the Big 12 Championships, the Cowgirls lassoed in a Midwest Region title on Friday in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma State scored 51 points to Iowa State’s 98 and ran away with the crown.
The Cowgirls and Cyclones were neck and neck at the 2-mile split (94-99), but Oklahoma State pulled away late. Here were the Cowgirls’ places at 2 miles (7-12-23-24-28) and then at the finish (4-7-9-15-16).
No. 21 Minnesota finished a distant third.
North Dakota State’s Erin Teschuk took the lead between the first and second mile and never looked back on her way to the individual win. Teschuk won by five seconds over Alyssa Schneider of Illinois. Kansas’ Sharon Lokedi took third.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 6 Oklahoma State, No. t-No. 26 Minnesota
Projected Individuals: Marc Scott, Tulsa; Trent Lusignan, South Dakota State; Joel Reichow, South Dakota State; Luke Traynor, Tulsa
Once Oklahoma State took control between the second and third mile Friday, the only question was what team would join the Cowboys in Louisville, Kentucky next week.
Oklahoma and Tulsa each played “Hot Potato” with second place until Minnesota came from out of nowhere to claim it for itself. The Golden Gophers were in seventh place at the 3-mile split and used an incredible surge down the stretch to nab runner-up honors.
Oklahoma State earned its 10th region title in the past 11 years and scored 59 points in the process. Minnesota followed with 95, t-No. 26 Oklahoma finished third with 104 and the 14th-ranked Golden Hurricane – led by individual champ Marc Scott – was fourth (127).
Scott used his kick to beat Oklahoma’s Jacob Burcham to the line. Finishing behind Burcham were Oklahoma State’s Cerake Geberkidane, Oklahoma’s Brandon Doughty and South Dakota State’s Trent Lusignan.
Mountain Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 2 Colorado, No. 1 New Mexico
Projected Individuals: Hannah Everson, Air Force; Hannah McInturff, Utah; Darby Gilfillan, Colorado State; Ellie Child, Weber State
New Mexico likely rested up for NCAAs and Colorado took advantage on Friday.
The Buffaloes edged the Lobos 49-50 and won the team title in the West Region. New Mexico ran without 2014 All-American Alice Wright and had no runners in the top-8.
Air Force’s Hannah Everson earned the individual crown, finishing 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Kaitlyn Benner of Colorado. Erin Clark took third place and was one of three Buffaloes in the top-7 (Maddie Alm finished seventh).
When the Lobos crossed the finish line, they did so in a pack. New Mexico’s runners went 9-10-11-12-13 with Calli Thackery leading the way and Whitney Thornburg rounding out the scoring lineup. Courtney Frerichs, Molly Renfer and Rhona Auckland were all sandwiched in the middle.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 1 Colorado, No. 11 UTEP
Projected Individuals: TBD
Colorado answered some questions in winning the Mountain Region over UTEP, 67-77.
The depth was there with seven finishers in the top-23 – led by Pierce Murphy and Morgan Pearson in seventh and eighth. Ben Saarel was there, albeit in 21st as their No. 6 runner. Jon Dressel made it through his first 10K in 19th.
UTEP looked very good with Jonah Koech and Anthony Rotich sweeping the top two spots alongside one another. Cosmas Boit was 11th for the Miners.
No. 3 BYU was third with 98 points, followed by vote-receiving Southern Utah in fourth with 114. No. 21 Air Force and No. 25 Colorado State both scored 124 points, but Air Force took the tiebreak.
Koech and Rotich crossed the line individually in 29:57.50 and 29:57.59, followed by the Air Force duo of Kyle Eller/Patrick Corona, and the Colorado State duo of Jefferson Abbey/Jerrell Mock, and the Colorado duo of Pierce Murphy/Morgan Pearson.
West Region
Women’s Race
Automatic Bids: t-No. 4 Oregon, No. 9 Boise State
Projected Individuals: Shelby Mills, Gonzaga; Weronika Pyzik, San Francisco; Sarah Reiter, Eastern Washington; TBD
Boise State’s Allie Ostrander and Oregon both continued their winning ways Friday.
Ostrander earned her third consecutive individual victory, while the Ducks barely edged Ostrander and the Broncos for the team crown (79-80).
Through 3K, it appeared as if Oregon would run away with the title. The Ducks led with 58 points, 27 points ahead of second-place Washington and 38 ahead of Boise State.
Then the Broncos, led by their talented freshman once again, made their move. Counting Ostrander, Boise State put three runners in the top-5 by race’s end.
While Oregon only had two in the top-10 – Waverly Neer (second) and Alli Cash (sixth) – its depth won out as three other runners crossed before the Broncos’ fourth.
The 12th-ranked Huskies, led by Maddie Meyers, were third. No. 11 Stanford, running without Elise Cranny and Aisling Cuffe, sat comfortably in fourth.
Men’s Race
Automatic Bids: No. 17 Washington, No. 4 Stanford
Projected Individuals: TBD
Mud and wind didn’t bother Oregon’s Edward Cheserek or the Washington Huskies on Friday.
Cheserek pulled away to win the individual title by 11 seconds and Washington stunned everybody to earn their first region crown in program history.
Using a 29.6-second spread, the Huskies packed together and scored 63 points. Washington topped second-place Stanford (83), third-place Oregon (99). Washington State finished fourth and Boise State took fifth.
Joining Cheserek in the top-5 were the Washington State duo of John Whelan (second) and Michael Williams (third), Oregon’s Travis Neuman (fourth) and Washington’s Tyler King (fifth).
King was the top finisher for the Huskies, but they ended up with their entire scoring lineup in the top-15. The Cardinal put three in the top-15 and were the only other team with that distinction.