USTFCCCA News & Notes
WEEKEND RECAP: NCAA DI Regional Championship Action
NEW ORLEANS — It’s a busy, busy day of racing as we’re going to find out which teams and individuals will punch their tickets to the 2016 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships held next Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana.
How do we find that out? Easy: They run the NCAA Division I Cross Country Regional Championships!
USTFCCCA InfoZone: Regional Championship Central | Latest National Coaches’ Poll
The top-two teams in each region as well as the top-four individuals not on those teams make the NCAA meet, as well as a few at-large teams and individuals.
Here is a table to know which teams earned automatic bids to The Big Dance.
NCAA Division I Automatic Team Qualifiers |
||
| Region | Men | Women |
| Great Lakes | #14 Wisconsin* | #5 Michigan* |
| Great Lakes | #18 Michigan State | #14 Notre Dame |
| Mid-Atlantic | #22 Georgetown* | #9 Penn State* |
| Mid-Atlantic | Navy | #21 Villanova |
| Midwest | #9 Oklahoma State* | RV Missouri* |
| Midwest | #23 Tulsa | #17 Oklahoma State |
| Mountain | #1 Northern Arizona* | #1 Colorado* |
| Mountain | #2 Colorado | #6 New Mexico |
| Northeast | #5 Syracuse* | #3 Providence* |
| Northeast | #7 Iona | #18 Harvard |
| South | #11 Mississippi* | RV Mississippi State* |
| South | #26 Middle Tennessee | #14 Mississippi |
| South Central | #6 Arkansas* | #7 Arkansas* |
| South Central | RV Texas | #25 Baylor |
| Southeast | #27 NC State* | #2 NC State* |
| Southeast | #16 Virginia | NR Louisville |
| West | #4 Stanford* | #7 Stanford* |
| West | #12 Portland | #4 Washington |
| * Denotes Regional Champ | ||
As far as the recaps for each regional meet, just look below. You can also click on the region you want to read about to skip right to it, but we suggest looking through it all.
REGION RECAPS: Great Lakes | Mid-Atlantic | Midwest | Mountain | Northeast | South | South Central | Southeast | West
Be sure to bookmark this page and come back to it throughout the day as it will serve as your hub for all NCAA Division I Regional Championship action.
South Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: RV Mississippi State, #14 Ole Miss
History was made in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday.
Mississippi State edged Ole Miss to earn its first regional championship in program history. The Bulldogs held off a late charge by the rival Rebels and beat them 66-67.
But, wait: There’s more!
Since Ole Miss finished 2nd, that punched that program’s first-ever trip to NCAAs. The Rebels packed up well and finished 10th, 11th, 12th, 18th and 21st. Emily Bean led the charge for Ole Miss in 10th place overall.
Vanderbilt (138), Alabama (177) and Georgia (195) rounded out the top-5 in the team standings.
UCF’s Anne-Marie Blaney won the individual title to earn a trip to Terre Haute, Indiana next weekend. Finishing in order behind her — and all getting trips to NCAAs — were Auburn’s Veronica Eder, Florida State’s Carmela Cardama Baez and Samford’s Karisa Nelson.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #11 Ole Miss, #26 Middle Tennessee
Conservative pack running won the day for the No. 11 Ole Miss men as they packed up and moved up in the second half of Friday morning’s 10K to clinch their third-consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships. The Rebels scored 46 points, topping No. 26 Middle Tennessee‘s 61-point total.
All five of Ole Miss’ scorers finished within 20 seconds of one another as MJ Erb, Wes Gallagher, Sean Tobin and Robert Domanic came through in a row in seventh through 10th, followed by Craig Engels in 12th.
Meanwhile, early frontrunning paid off for Middle Tennessee State as the Blue Raiders qualified for their first-ever NCAA DI Championships with the runner-up effort. Led by individual champion Jacob Choge and runner-up Kigen Chemadi, MTSU led as late into the race as the eighth kilometer before surrendering the lead to Ole Miss by the start of the ninth.
Georgia (107), Florida State (114) and Alabama (131) rounded out the top five in the team standings.
As likely only he top two teams will advance to NCAAs from the region, the individual qualifiers will likely be third-place Robbie Farnham-Rose of Alabama, fourth-place Arse’ne Guillorel of Samford, fifth-place Harry Mulenga of Florida State and sixth-place Antibahs Kosgei of Alabama. The latter three all advanced as individuals a year ago, as well, with Kosgei winning the 2015 crown.
Southeast Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #2 NC State, NR Louisville
From the start of the season, it was clear that NC State was the class of the Southeast Region.
The Wolfpack, ranked 1st in the region and 2nd nationally, proved it Friday in Charlottesville, Virginia as they romped to the region title after scoring 53 points behind four runners in the top-12. Erika Kemp led the way in 2nd, Ryen Frazier finished 10th overall, Rachel Koon was 11th and Alyssa Rudawsky took 12th.
The true race came down to what team would join NC State as an automatic qualifier. Louisville, Kentucky and Furman went toe-to-toe-to-toe for the final spot. Ultimately the Cardinals pushed ahead thanks to Mia Ross, who beat Kentucky’s Amy Hansen to the finish line by three-tenths of a second. Ross’ finish provided the separation Louisville needed to secure its first-ever trip to the NCAA meet in program history.
The Cardinals scored 163 points (7-25-38-41 (Ross)-52) to the Wildcats’ 164 (3-23-39-42 (Hansen)-57). The Paladins finished 4th with 168 points and Wake Forest was 5th with 186.
Individual at-large bids went to Coastal Carolina’s Annie Bothma (region champ by four seconds over Kemp), Kentucky’s Katy Kunc, Clemson’s Grace Barnett and Eastern Kentucky’s Charlotte Imer.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #27 NC State, #16 Virginia
The early leader in the clubhouse for the "Wildest Regional Race of the Day" is the Southeast, as #27 NC State emerged the victor in a top-4 separated by just 27 points.
Led by fourth-place Sam Parsons, the Pack were the only team in double-digits with 90 points, as host #16 Virginia edged out unranked Furman for the second automatic berth to NCAAs, 105-106. Unranked Eastern Kentucky was fourth with 117 points, while the vote-receiving dup of Kentucky and Virginia Tech finished with 150 and 181 points, respectively.
NC State held just a small three-point lead over the Cavs at 8K, while Furman was able to overtake Eastern Kentucky and nearly took down UVA in the final two kilometers to better position itself for an at-large berth. Ultimately, Virginia’s Chase Weaverling was able to hold off Furman’s Josh Bricknell for 14th place by .5 of a second, as that individual result flipped would have flipped the two teams’ finishes.
Individually, the day belonged to Campbell as Amon Terer and Lawrence Kipkoech went 1-2 in 28:48 to claim at-large individual berths. Third-place Edwin Kibichiy of Louisville clinched the third of four at-large individual bids, with the fourth going to either Erick Rotich of Eastern Kentucky (5th), Jacob Thomson of Kentucky (7th) or Calvin Chemoiywo of Louisville depending on how many at-large teams come from the Southeast. If none or one, then it’s Rotich; if two, then it’s Thomson; if three or more, then it’s Chemoiywo.
Northeast Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #3 Princeton, #18 Harvard
No. 3 Providence proved itself the class of the Northeast Region once again on Friday, scoring 50 points to take down #18 Harvard with 71. The Crimson locked up the region’s second automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, once again topping Ivy League rival Yale by 55 points.
The Friars were dominant with five runners in the top 20, led by a trio of top-10 finishers in fourth-place Sarah Collins, fifth-place Briana Ilarda and seventh-place Millie Paladino. Depth could still be an issue, as the Friars’ sixth and seventh runners were back around 50th-place.
Harvard had a pair of top-10 finishers in runner-up Courtney Smith and sixth-place Judy Pendergast. The Crimson make their first NCAA Championships appearance since 2012, and their first as an automatic qualifier.
Yale was third with 126 points and will await their fate in the at-large process.
Individually, Elinor Purrier makes her first NCAA Cross Country Championships with the win on the 6K course in 20:07.82 by nearly six seconds over Smith.
Likely securing the remaining at-large individual berths (four per region) were Isabelle Kennedy of Boston College in third, Henna Rustami of Columbia in eighth and Christina Melian of Stony Brook in ninth.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #5 Syracuse, #7 Iona
As expected, defending national champion No. 5 Syracuse and No. 7 Iona clinched the Northeast Region’s two automatic bids to the NCAA Championships with 29 and 65 ponts, respectively.
Justyn Knight and Colin Bennie went 1-2 for Cuse with all five scorers in the top-10, while Iona went 3-4 with Kieran Clements and Chartt Miller.
The drama ramped up shortly thereafter as the battle for third and the inside lane for an at-large berth came down to three teams separated by four points.
Unranked Dartmouth scored 108 points to edge #30 Providence by just one point, with unranked Columbia just three more points back at 112.
Time will tell how many, if any, of those three advance to NCAAs as at-large teams.
South Central Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #7 Arkansas, #25 Baylor
Depth matters in cross country.
Arkansas proved that to Baylor on Friday at the South Central Region Championships.
Through four runners, the Bears actually led the Razorbacks 27-31. Maggie Montoya (2nd), Lindsey Bradley (3rd), Anna West (9th) and Peyton Thomas (13th) appeared to overcome Devin Clark‘s individual win, Taylor Werner‘s top-5 finish, Regan Ward‘s strong showing (11th) and Carina Viljoen‘s effort (15th).
That’s when Arkansas put three more runners across the finish line before Baylor’s 5th and strolled away with the team title. The Razorbacks finished with 48 points to the Bears’ 62. This is Arkansas’ 6th consecutive trip to NCAAs, while it’s Baylor’s 2nd in three years.
Rice took 3rd with 93, Texas was 4th with 108 and SMU, the No. 2 team in the region entering the meet, placed 5th with 109.
Going strictly off finish, SMU’s Hannah Miller (4th), TCU’s Brenley Goertzen (6th) and Rice teammates Katie Jensen (7th) and Abigail Cartwright (8th) should earn at-large individual bids.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #6 Arkansas, Texas (RV)
This one played out exactly as predicted as Arkansas advanced to NCAAs for the 42nd time in the past 43 years with a 40-82 victory over vote-receiving Texas.
The Razorbacks put four runners in the top-7, led by individual runner-up Andrew Ronoh. Alex George, Jack Bruce and Frankline Tonui followed close behind in fifth through seventh. Aidan Swain rounded out the scoring lineup in 22nd.
Texas had three in the top 12, led by fourth-place Nate Moore.
UT-Arlington was third with 137 points, followed closely by Texas A&M with 148.
Individually, Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane got the win and one of four at-large individual berths to the NCAA Championships with a 29:58.9 clocking over 10K. He’ll be joined as individual qualifiers by third-place Stanley Limoh of UL-Lafayette and UT-Arlington’s duo of Craig Lautenslager and Michael Guerrero in eighth and ninth.
Mid-Atlantic Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #9 Penn State, #21 Villanova
It was a Penn State-ment at the Mid-Atlantic Region Championships on Friday.
The Nittany Lions demolished the competition and scored just 36 points on their home course. Penn State went 1-3-4-12-16 with Tessa Barrett (individual champ), Elizabeth Chikotas and Jillian Hunsberger leading the charge as usual.
At the 3K mark, the Nittany Lions had some company as Villanova was just 14 points behind (65-79). Then Penn State dropped the hammer and the 21st-ranked Wildcats, who eventually finished runner-up to earn an automatic bid, didn’t have an answer.
No. 24 Penn and No. 27 West Virginia must wait to find out if they did enough to nab an at-large berth after finishing 3rd (99 points) and 4th (112 points) in the team standings. Georgetown was 5th (141 points).
If the Mountaineers and Quakers don’t make it as a team, they’ll have Jillian Forsey and Ashley Montgomery there as individuals, respectively. Pittsburgh’s Gillian Schriever and Bucknell’s Catherine Scott should also make it to Terre Haute.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #22 Georgetown, Navy (NR)
The top two teams going to NCAAs from the Mid-Atlantic couldn’t have a more different recent history. Since 1997, region champion #22 Georgetown has gone to NCAAs in all but one year; runner-up Navy hasn’t been to NCAAs since 1997.
The Hoyas sored 66 points to take the win with two top-10 finishers, while Navy scored 74 points behind six runners in the top-23.
Georgetown was led by runner-up Scott Carpenter and seventh-place Michael Clevenger, while Navy was paced by eighth-place Lucas Stalnaker.
Princeton finished third with 97 points, while Ivy League champion Penn finished a disappointing fourth with 111 points.
Individual winner Patrick Tiernan of Villanova will get one of the region’s four at-large individual bids, as will fourth-place Andrew Marston of Nova and fifth-place Khalil Rmidi Kinini of UMES. The fourth will either go to third-place Conor Lundy of Princeton if the Tigers don’t get an at-large team bid, sixth-place Nicholas Tuck of Penn if only Princeton gets in with an at-large bid, or 13th-place Casey Comber of Nova if both Penn and Princeton get in at-large.
Midwest Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: RV Missouri, #17 Oklahoma State
We knew about No. 12 Iowa State and No. 17 Oklahoma State.
But RV Missouri? Yeah. Turns out those Tigers are grrrreat!
(Yeah. We’ll show ourselves the door on that one.)
Led by individual champion Karissa Schweizer, Missouri shocked the field at the Midwest Region Championships. The Tigers also saw a standout race from Jamie Kempfer, who finished 5th. Missouri scored 83 points (1-5-20-21-36) was actually the only team with two runners in the top-5.
The Cowgirls (89 points) took runner-up honors behind the Tigers and the Cyclones will most likely earn an at-large bid after finishing a close 3rd (90 points). No. 26 Minnesota (4th, 131) and Kansas (5th, 154) rounded out the top-5.
Halfway through the race, Schweizer and Jayhawk standout Sharon Lokedi turned it into a two-woman race. By the final 400 meters, Schweizer left Lokedi in the dust and won by 6 seconds.
Lokedi nabbed the first at-large individual spot out of the region and Northern Illinois’ Hope Schmelzle grabbed the second with her 3rd-place finish. Northwestern’s Aubrey Roberts finished 4th for the 3rd at-large spot and if Minnesota doesn’t make NCAAs, the 4th slot belongs to Madeline Strandemo.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #9 Oklahoma State, #23 Tulsa
Running conservatively early and making a move late, No. 9 Oklahoma State clinched its seventh-consecutive Midwest Region title and a bid to the NCAA Championships, defeating the region’s other auto-qualifier, No. 23 Tulsa, 64-89.
Oklahoma State was led up front by runner-up Joshua Thompson and fourth-place Hassan Abdi as all five Cowboy scorers came through in the top-25.
Tulsa looked even better up front with winner Luke Traynor (who edged Thompson by less than half a second) leading a group of four Golden Hurricane men in the top-12. Tulsa’s fifth runner came through in 57th.
Rounding out the top-five were Illinois (113), No. 13 Iowa State (120) and Bradley (135).
Individual at-large qualifiers could vary depending which teams qualify at-large. Locks as at-large individuals are third-place Joel Reichow of SD State, sixth-place Dylan Blankenbaker of Oklahoma and seventh-place Reed Fischer of Drake.
Great Lakes Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #5 Michigan, #14 Notre Dame
Erin Finn continues to put her only loss of the season — and the rest of the nation — in the rear-view mirror.
Finn cruised to her fourth win in a row — this time at the Great Lakes Region Championships — and helped No. 5 Michigan win the team title. The senior crossed the finish line in 19:27.8, nearly eight seconds ahead of runner-up Anna Rohrer of Notre Dame.
Speaking of the 14th-ranked Irish, they finished second behind the Wolverines to capture the second automatic NCAA bid. Notre Dame scored 91 points to edge 97-point-scorers Wisconsin and No. 22 Michigan State.
Michigan packed up to help Finn as it put two other runners in the top-10: Gina Sereno (8th) and Avery Evenson (9th). Jamie Morrissey (21st) and Madeline Trevisan (22nd) finished right next to each other as well to lock up the team title.
The Irish had three in the top-15, including Rohrer. Annie Heffernan took 10th and Danielle Aragon was 13th.
The Badgers didn’t have a runner in the top-10, but squeezed nicely into the top-17 (11-12-15-17). The Spartans were led by Rachele Schulist‘s bounce-back performance (4th), while Eastern Michigan‘s dream season might have come to an end after it couldn’t ride Jordann McDermitt‘s 5th-place finish to higher than 5th place as a team.
Indiana’s Katherine Receveur is definitely an at-large individual qualifier after finishing 4th, as is Butler’s Katherine Turner (6th) and Purdue’s Emma Benner (7th).
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #14 Wisconsin, #18 Michigan State
After missing the NCAA Championships last season for the first time since 1971, the Wisconsin Badgers are back atop the Great Lakes Region and bound for Terre Haute.
The Badgers got a 1-2 finish from Malachy Schrobilgen and Morgan McDonald to score 51 points, 30 better than both No. 18 Michigan State and No. 21 Indiana.
After 10 kilometers of racing, it came down to a tiebreaker to determine whether the Spartans or Hoosiers would be advancing to the NCAA Championships automatically, ultimately won by MSU. The race between their top men up front was just as close; just half a second separated MSU’s Sherod Hardt coming through in third and IU’s Matthew Schwartzer taking fourth.
MSU managed to get its fourth runner in less than a second ahead of IU’s fourth, as well. Nick Soter was 22nd in 31:04.0 for MSU and Bryce Millar was 24th in 31:04.9 (with another runner just .2 ahead) for IU.
Rounding out the top-five teams were No. 25 Eastern Michigan with 99 points and No. 29 Michigan with 107.
Schrobilgen crossed the line side-by-side with McDonald on the 10K course in 30:22.2.
Mountain Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #1 Colorado, #7 New Mexico
No. 1 Colorado turned in a performance on Friday that many thought New Mexico would at this meet one year ago.
The Buffs steamrolled the competition in Logan, Utah at the Mountain Region Championships. Colorado’s total of 35 points dwarfed the next closest finisher — that just so happened to be the 6th-ranked Lobos — by 74 points.
Makena Morley led the stampede was she finished 4th (tied with Air Force’s Jaci Smith) and was one of five Buffs in the top-10. Kaitlyn Benner (6th), Erin Clark (7th) and Mackenzie Caldwell (8th) all finished within two seconds of each other with Tabor Scholl (10th) five seconds behind Caldwell.
New Mexico watched Alice Wright capture the individual crown. Wright crossed the finish line in 19:59.90, more than 17 seconds ahead of UTEP’s Winny Koech. Wright’s running buddy Calli Thackery didn’t run up to her potential and finished 11th.
No. 29 Air Force put two runners in the top-5 — Gillespie Carina joined Smith — and nearly upset the Lobos. Depth undid the Falcons as their 3-4-5 runners went 19-35-49 compared to New Mexico’s 27-34-36.
No. 20 Utah and No. 18 BYU finished 4th and 5th, respectively, and must wait like Air Force to see if they’ll get an at-large bid to NCAAs. Neither the Utes nor the Cougars had a runner in the top-15.
Koech is one of the at-large individual qualifiers, as is Weber State’s Ellie Child. If all of those ranked teams are headed to Terre Haute, so are Colorado State’s Jenelle Lincks and Darby Gilfillan.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #1 Northern Arizona, #2 Colorado
We remain on course for a Mountainous showdown among the rolling hills of Terre Haute next weekend.
Top-ranked Northern Arizona claimed the Mountain title with 60 points, finishing ahead of No. 2 Colorado with 76 and No. 3 BYU with 79. Though technically only NAU and Colorado clinched automatic berths to NCAAs, the Cougars are the next-best thing to an automatic qualifier.
NAU looked strong up front with Futsum Zienasellassie taking the individual win in 30:54.10 on the 10K course, ahead of sixth-place Cory Glines and seventh-pace Tyler Day. Matthew Baxter and Nathan Wietz finished not too far behind in 22nd and 24th.
Colorado ran with Joe Klecker up front in third and John Dressel in fifth. Three-time All-American Ben Saarel was 25th as the Buffaloes’ fourth runner.
Led by fourth-place Nicolas Montanez, BYU was the deepest team in the field as the only squad with seven runners in the top-40.
No. 19 Colorado State did wonders for its at-large chances by upsetting No. 15 UTEP for fourth-place, 114-122. Following UTEP in sixth was No. 24 Southern Utah with 134 points and in seventh was Air Force (RV) with 168 points.
The four individuals who qualify out of the region with at-large bids will depend on how many teams qualify at-large, but very likely to get in are eighth-place Dillon Maggard of Utah State and 10th-place Benard Keter of Texas Tech.
West Region
Women’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #7 Stanford, #4 Washington
No. 4 Washington got out in a hurry at the West Region Championships.
Then No. 11 Oregon and No. 7 Stanford started to reel in the Huskies, as did No. 16 San Francisco.
When the dust settled, the Cardinal’s youth won the day and Washington held on for second.
Stanford put five runners in the top-20 — zero in the top-5 — and used a spread of 23.3 seconds to win its first region title since 2007. The Cardinal also extended their gender-best streak of NCAA bids to 24 consecutive years.
The Huskies were led by Amy-Eloise Neale‘s individual win, but she had little help. Charlotte Prouse, usually another front-runner for Washington, faded back to 10th after leading at 3K.
The story of the afternoon was the Cardinal’s rise. Vanessa Fraser paced Stanford with a 7th-place finish and senior Danielle Katz took 14th, but it was the freshmen trio of Fiona O’Keeffe (13th), Christina Aragon (17th) and Ella Donaghu (20th) who ran beyond their years.
Finishing behind the Cardinal and Huskies were the Dons (3rd, 101), Ducks (4th, 107) and No. 10 Portland (5th, 130).
Boise State’s Brenna Peloquin nabbed one of the four at-large individual qualifying spots. Peloquin finished 3rd after leading at the 4K split.
Other individual locks for NCAAs are Eastern Washington’s Sarah Reiter (6th), California’s Bethan Knights (8th) and Cal Poly’s Peyton Bilo (9th), figuring the committee brings at least five teams from the West Region to Terre Haute.
Men’s Race
Auto Qualifiers: #4 Stanford, #12 Portland
Competing against one of the two deepest regional championship fields in the country on Friday, the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal and No. 12 Portland Pilots clinched automatic berths to the NCAA Championships.
Stanford took the win with 75 points as the Cardinal executed a conservative race plan, while Portland scored 90 points to clinch the region’s second and final automatic berth. No. 8 UCLA finished third with 112 points, while No. 10 Oregon was fourth with 122 despite a 1-2 finish from Edward Cheserek and Matthew Maton.
Other notable teams in the at-large hunt were fifth-place No. 17 Washington State (143), sixth-place unranked Cal (188), and seventh-place No. 20 Boise State (219).
The Cardinal’s top runners all ran restrained races, with Sean McGorty, Jack Keelan and Grant Fisher coming through in ninth through 11th. Stanford also ran without another scorer in Thomas Ratcliffe.
Portland put on a clinic in depth, as sixth-place Nick Hauger led a Pilots squad that was the only team in the field with seven runners in the top-30. Stanford came closest to matching that depth with five.
UCLA wasn’t quite as deep but still impressed with fifth-place Ferdinand Edman leading one of only three teams with five top-40 finishers.
Oregon, on the other hand, had its at-large hopes hindered by a lack of depth. Behind Cheserek and Maton, the next-nearest Duck was Tanner Anderson in 32nd, followed by 43rd-place Tim Gorman and 46th-place Jake Leingang.
At-large individuals will depend on which teams qualify at-large, but third-place Fred Huxham of Washington and fourth-place Alex Short of San Francisco are sure-things. If Oregon does ultimately qualify as a team (and therefore doesn’t eat up the remaining two at-large individual berths with Ches and Maton), then seventh-place Gabe Arias-Sheridan of Saint Mary’s and eighth-place Jose Pina of San Jose State are next in line.