BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Penn State cross country team closed out team competition at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional at Lehigh on Friday with four Nittany Lions placing in the top-25 to claim all-region honors.
"I am really proud of the effort that both of our teams put out there today," Head Coach John Gondak said. "We've had some ups and downs this season and I know both teams were not happy with our Big Ten performances. It would've been really easy for them to pack it in for the season, but they came and ran with a purpose today. We had four all-region performances and both of our teams finished in the top five. I couldn't have asked for a better performance at the regional championships today."
The Penn State women competed first, placing fifth as a team with a score of 159. Georgetown (43) and West Virginia (67) qualified for the NCAA Championships by placing in the top two.
In her final cross country race as a Nittany Lion, senior Alison Willingmyre led the team with a 15th place finish at 20:50.4. Willingmyre claimed her the third all-region honor of her career with the performance. Madaline Ullom was the second Nittany Lion to cross the line, placing 27th with a time of 21:16.5.
Three Penn State men claimed all-region honors on Friday as the Nittany Lions placed fourth in the men's 10k race. Eric Hamel (16th, 30:48.8), Evan Dorenkamp (17th, 30:51.0) and Connor McMenamin (25th, 31:13.8) placed in the top-25 of the competition to claim the regional honor. Hamel and Dorenkamp remain in contention to advance to the NCAA Championships as they can qualify as individuals if Villanova is selected to advance as a team on Saturday.
Princeton (40) and Georgetown (49) advanced to the NCAA Championships on the men's side. The NCAA Cross Country Selection Show is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday and can be seen on NCAA.com.
Full Results: http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Mitchell_Timing/NCAA_Division_I_MidAtlantic_Region_Cross_Country_Championships/
