NCAA Cross Country Regional Recap

Nov 13, 2015 by Taylor Dutch

In one of the most surprising NCAA Regional weekends to date, teams from around the country punched their tickets to the Big Dance, the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. Catch up on all the action from all nine regions!

Our Projected Team Qualifiers

Our Projected Individual Qualifiers

Midwest Region Full Results

The Oklahoma State men and women liked winning the Big 12 Conference Championship so much that they replicated the victories in the NCAA Midwest Region. The Cowgirls won with 51 points over runner-up Iowa State (98), and the men tallied 59 points over surprise runner-up Minnesota (95). North Dakota State's Erin Teschuk was the individual winner in 20:07 and Illinois' Alyssa Schneider followed close behind in 20:12. The OK State women placed their top five in the top 16 to win their first regional title since 2005.

Marc Scott of Tulsa won the individual crown in 29:37 over Oklahoma's Jacob Burcham (29:38). Cowboy Cerake Geberkidane finished third to lead OK State's pack of five in the top 17. In a Kolas system shocker, the Minnesota, Tulsa and Kansas women earned at-large spots, and the Oklahoma and Tulsa men punched tickets to the Big Dance, as well.

Great Lakes Region Full Results

The Michigan men and women made it a clean sweep by winning the Great Lakes region for the second time since 2013. Michigan's Mason Ferlic was the individual men's champion in 30:18 over Purdue's Matt McClintock. Just two weekends ago McClintock took down Ferlic for the individual Big Ten title. An extremely talented group of individuals followed McClintock with Notre Dame's Michael Clevenger third, Miami(OH)'s Joseph Stewart fourth, Butler's Erik Peterson fifth and Indiana State's John Mascari sixth. Though only four individuals advance to the NCAA Championships from each region, the NCAA does select a few at-large individuals, so there is hope All American Mascari will get a bid.

The Michigan State men grabbed the second auto-spot by scoring 88 points for second over Eastern Michigan's 102 points.

The Michigan women bounced back from a Big Ten loss to claim the Great Lakes Region by 10 points over Notre Dame. Erin Finn finished fifth in 20:44 and Anna Pasternak (11th), Shannon Osika (16th), Gina Sereno (17th) and Jaime Phelan (20th) contributed to the Wolverines point total. Notre Dame's Molly Seidel continued to roll over the competition this season by winning in 20:04, 14 seconds over teammate Anna Rohrer.

Northeast Region Full Results

The No. 2 Syracuse men had one of the most dramatic finishes of the day as Justyn Knight, Colin Bennie, and Martin Hehir went 1-2-3 to finish within a second of each other Friday at the Northeast Region Championships. The Syracuse team walked away with an astounding team total of just 29 points to claim the victory ahead of Iona. Aside from the top three, all of the Orange runners finished in the top 12 of the race, claiming the team total by 14 points over the Gaels.

The Gaels came close but were unable to match the Orange as Iona totaled 43 points with the top runner Kieran Clements finishing fourth overall. Clements was followed by Gilbert Kirui (6th), Mike O’Dowd (7th), Chartt Miller (10th), and Brandon Allen (13th).

The Northeast Region was predicable with the top two teams, but an upset went down for third-place as Brown claimed the third-place finish. Providence collected the win with 49 points, and were led by a runner-up finish from Sarah Collins. The Syracuse Orange trailed with 92 points led by an eighth-place finish from Margo Malone.

Mountain Region Full Results

In one of the most exciting finishes of the day, the Colorado women took down the No. 1-ranked team in the country, the New Mexico Lobos by only one point. The Buffaloes tallied 49 points while the Lobos scored 50 points to earn the first two automatic qualifying spots to the NCAA Championships. Although the Lobos rested top five mainstay Alice Wright, they were still able to put their entire top five in the top 12 of the race. Colorado’s team, led by Kaitlyn Benner, put all five scorers in the top 22 spots.

Utah also had a breakthrough day as the Utes claimed the third-place finish in the Mountain Region with 116 points, 10 points ahead of third-place team BYU. Utah’s performance marks the first time the team has qualified for the NCAA Championships in school history.

In the men's race, the Colorado Buffaloes edged out the UTEP Miners for another Mountain Region title. Led by Pierce Murphy and Morgan Pearson's sevnth and eighth place finishes, their 67 points was 10 less then UTEP's 77. Surprisingly, the Buffs ran Ben Saarel, who finished 21st (their sixth runner). It is Saarel's first race in uniform all season.

UTEP was led by individual winner Jonah Koech (29:57.50) and runner-up Anthony Rotich (29:57:59). The Miners edged out third-place team BYU (98), Southern Utah (114), Air Force (124) and Colorado State (124).

Mid-Atlantic Region Full Results

After a big upset at the Big Ten Championships, the Penn State women continued their dominance at the Mid-Atlantic Region by claiming a tight victory over Georgetown with 60 points over Georgetown’s 75-point total. Improving every week, the Nittany Lions were led by a fourth-place finish from Tessa Barrett and a sixth-place finish from Tori Gerlach.

Georgetown followed with a top 21 finish for all five scorers, including a ninth-place finish from senior Andrea Keklak to help lead the team to another NCAA Championship berth. Princeton was able to close for third with 80 points, led by a runner-up finish from Emily de La Bruyere and a third-place finish from Elizabeth Bird, and Villanova was able to hang on for fourth overall with 125 points led by middle distance standout Angel Piccirillo’s seventh-place finish.

On the men’s side, the Georgetown men pulled out a sizable win over the Penn men’s squad with a team score of 44 to 60 to claim the top two automatic spots. They Hoyas were led by a runner-up finish by Jonathan Green who was followed by Michael Lederhouse in seventh, Amos Bartelsmeyer in eighth and Scott Carpenter who closed for 10th. A 17th-place finish from Christian Alvarado tallied the final winning score for the Hoyas.

Penn was led by a fourth-place finish from All American Tommy Awad and a sixth-place finish from Nicholas Tuck to help lead the Penn men to an automatic qualifying spot.

South Region Full Results

The women of Vanderbilt climbed to the top of the South Region Friday morning as the No. 18 Commodores beat out No. 14 Mississippi State for the title with 65 points, 13 points lower than the Bulldogs. Both Vanderbilt and Mississippi State’s 1-2 performances earned them automatic qualifying spots to the NCAA Cross Country Championships next week.

Vanderbilt was led by a runner-up finish from freshman phenom Caroline Pietrzyk and a tight top five pack of Vanessa Valentine (8th), Carmen Carlos (12th), Sara Barron (22) and Sara Tsai (24th). The top 24 finish for Vandy’s five scorers was no match for the Bulldogs who were led by a sixth-place finish by Marta Freitas

The men’s race was claimed by the Florida State Seminoles who stole the win from the Ole Miss men with a team total of 58 points. The ‘Noles were led by a third-place individual finish from former NJCAA standout Harry Mulenga. Zak Seddon closed for 12th with Jack Goodwin, Stanley Linton and Grant Nykaza right behind him in 13th, 14th, and 16th-place finishes, respectively. Five breakthrough performances catapulted the ‘Noles to an automatic qualifying spot to the Big Dance.

Even despite tumbling out of the Saucony Flo50 rankings, the Ole Miss men are back in the NCAA Championships for the second straight year with their runner-up finish in the South Region. The Rebels tallied 62 points total with three top 10 finishes from MJ Erb (6th), Sean Tobin (7th), Robert Domanic (10th).

South Central Full Results

The Arkansas women made a clean sweep of the South Central Region with an individual win in Dominique Scott and all seven of their runners in the top 15 finishing spots. Scott rolled over the competition by taking the individual win in 19:35, a full 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Maggie Montoya of Baylor. The Razorbacks had a total score of 39 points, which was a full 61 points lower than runner-up Texas.

The previously un-ranked Longhorns took home a runner-up finish and earned their first NCAA qualification since 2012. The tight pack of Mary Beth Hamilton (16), Hannah Grub (17), Sandie Raines (18), Meghan Lloyd (26), and Alex Cruz (34) closed in on the field with 100 total points to secure an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Championships.

Despite not running three of their mainstays, the Arkansas men still claimed the South Central Region victory over Texas with 51 total points. Led by Gabe Gonzales’ and Frankline Tonui’s third and fourth-place finishes, the Razorbacks had their top five scorers all finish in the top 13 overall. Led by a fifth-place from Jacob Pickle, the Longhorns were able to claim another runner-up finish to automatically advance. The performance marked Texas’ seventh-straight year qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Southeast Region Full Results

In a predictable victory, Thomas Curtin rolled on the competition once again for the individual title out of the Southeast Region, but it was the Louisville men who shocked the world Friday morning with a team win over Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

Louisville tallied 77 points to beat Virginia’s 96 points. After finishing fifth at the ACC Championships just two weeks ago, Louisville proved they are an NCAA team to watch after claiming the victory in a very competitive Southeast Region. Led by a third-place finish from Edwin Kibichiy and a sixth-place finish from Ernest Kibet, the Cardinals had all top five scorers finish in the top 36 overall, while Virginia had their first runner, Henry Wayne come through in 12th and their fifth man Adam Visokay finish 28th.

After claiming the ACC Championship victory, the Virginia women continued to dominate the conference rivalry against NC State with another victory at the Southeast Region meet. Virginia took the win with 53 points led by a seventh-place finish from senior Cleo Boyd and a tight pack of Sarah Astin (11th), Emily Mulhern (12th), Megan Rebholz (13th), and Iona Lake (15th).

Runner-up NC State tallied 74 points with a 1-2 punch of Rachel Koon (8th), and Erika Kemp (9th), followed by Megan Moye (16th), freshman Ryen Frazier (18th), and Alyssa Rudaswky (28th).

West Region Full Results

In perhaps one of the deepest regions in the NCAA system, the Oregon women and Washington men were victorious in Seattle, Wash., on a rainy and muddy race day. The Oregon women were led by Waverly Neer's runner-up finish in 20:32, as well as a stellar supporting cast of Alli Cash (sixth), Frida Berge (20th), Molly Grabill (25th) and Maggie Schmaedick (26th). While their 79 points was good enough for the win, they were only 1 point ahead of runner-up Boise State. Led by Allie Ostrander's third-consecutive season victory, a blistering 20:10 (22 seconds better than Neer), the Broncos placed three in the top five to overtake Pac-12 heavyweights Washington (third) and Stanford (fourth).

Edward Cheserek of Oregon won the men's individual title in 30:43, but it was the Washington Husky men who took home the team championship. Washington's 63 points was 20 less than runner-up Stanford (83) and 36 less than third-place Oregon (99). Led by All American Tyler King (fifth), Washington placed all five scorers in the top 21. The Cardinal men rested freshman Grant Fisher but were carried by the trio of Jim Rosa, Sean McGorty and Joe Rosa, who finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.