UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Eight members of the Penn State cross country program ran to all-region honors Friday, Nov. 9, at the 2018 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by Penn State at the Blue-White Golf Course. As a team, the No. 13 Penn State women finish third (91 points), while the Penn State men took fifth (109 points).
"What a challenging day out on the course," head coach John Gondak said. "I have never seen so much water on the course in my 13 years at Penn State!"
"Our women ran well with four all-region athletes on this challenging day. With our third-place finish and the points we earned during the regular season and Big Ten Championship we will advance to the NCAA finals for the fourth consecutive year and ninth time in the last 10 years."
In the team standings on the women's side, No. 8 Villanova finished first (33 points), while Princeton placed runner-up (64 points). Villanova and Princeton secured the two automatic berths from the Mid-Atlantic Region in the women's race for the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Individually, Rachel McArthur of Villanova completed the 6k course first in 21:03 and Grace Mancini of La Salle placed second in 21:09.
For the Penn State women, Alison Willingmyre and Danae Rivers recorded top-10 finishes to pace the Nittany Lions. Willingmyre and Rivers ran 21:22 to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.
Along with Willingmyre and Rivers, Kathryn Munks (18th - 21:40) and Moira O'Shea (25th - 21:48) recorded all-region finishes by placing in the top-25. Freshman Julia Paternain rounded out the scoring for Penn State with her 35th-place finish (22:03).
"I was very pleased with our men's team effort," Gondak added. "It was our best race of the year and included four all-region athletes with a fifth one just missing it in 28th place. Three of those athletes are freshman so our fifth-place finish as a team – just 10 points out of third place – shows Penn State men's cross country continues to move in the direction we want it to."
In the team standings on the men's side, No. 25 Princeton claimed the title with a score of 61 points, while Villanova finished second with a score of 73 points.
Individually, Casey Comber of Villanova completed the 10k course in 31:05 to win the title, while Nicholas Wareham of Georgetown placed second in 31:08.
Leading the way for the Penn State men was Colin Abert who finished 16th overall with his time of 31:47.
Along with Abert, three other Nittany Lions tallied all-region honors. Alex Tomasko clocked in at 31:48 (18th), while John McGowan (23rd) and Isaac Davis (24th) both ran 31:55. Owen Wing rounded out the scoring with his time of 32:00 (28th).
The complete field of teams and individuals will be announced at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10, on NCAA.com.