November 10, 2011
NCAA Regionals Hosted at St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence University is the host of the 2011 NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship meet Saturday, Nov. 12 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Colleges and universities are competing for the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Div. III championship meet on Nov. 19 in Winneconne, Wisconsin at the Lake Breeze Golf Course.
The top two finishing teams per gender overall will automatically qualify for the NCAA championship meet. The NCAA cross-country championship committee then selects the next 16 teams per gender for at-large berths. Only the top five teams in each region are considered for an at-large berth with the primary criteria being Regional performance/place.
Last year, it was Geneseo and St. Lawrence that earned the automatic berths on the men’s side while Rochester was selected as an at-large team.
The pre-regional championship coaches’ poll released last Tuesday had Geneseo ranked No. 1 on the men’s side followed by St. Lawrence. Both schools competed at the Hoffman Invitational on Oct. 8 and finished third and second respectively. Six of the top ten finishers overall were from St. Lawrence or Geneseo including the individual champion, senior Lee Berube of Geneseo.
Berube will look to defend his 2010 regional title as the Knights aim for a third consecutive team championship. Geneseo returns three additional runners from a year ago that finished in the top 35; Eddie Novara (3), Patrick Wortner (24) and Mark Streb (33).
Rounding out the top-10 in the pre-championship rankings are NYU, Cortland, Rochester, The College of New Jersey, Rowan, Vassar, Plattsburgh and RPI.
Plattsburgh’s Ryan Millar, coming off a sixth place run at the SUNYAC Championship, is looking to add all-region honors to his resume after narrowly missing the mark a year ago with a 38th place finish. Cortland freshman Nick Marcantonio has already made a name for himself in the conference finishing fifth at SUNYAC’s, earning Hall of Fame status and first team all-SUNYAC. Now he looks to break into the regional spotlight.
In the national Div. III poll from last Wednesday, Geneseo was at No. 9, St. Lawrence No. 11, NYU No. 13, Cortland at No. 27 and Rochester at No. 32.
In the women’s pre-championship rankings, it is Geneseo in the top spot followed by Rowan and defending champion St. Lawrence. Geneseo won the Hoffman Invitational back in early October led by senior Alyssa Smith who placed third overall as the Knights are coming off a first place finish at the SUNYAC Championship meet two weeks ago.
Plattsburgh, ranked fourth in the region entering the meet, will be paced by 2011 SUNYAC Champion Stefanie Braun. Braun was 24th a year ago and finished second in the Hoffman Invite this season.
Cortland will be led by three-time All-Region runner, Alyson Dalton, who was fourth at last year’s race, 20th in 2009 and 19th in 2008. Dalton will look to repeat her winning performance on the course from the pre-regional race.
Teams ranked fifth thru ten in the region include NYU, The College of New Jersey, Cortland Ithaca, Vassar and Oneonta.
Nationally, Geneseo is No. 6 in Div. III entering the meet. Plattsburgh and Cortland are in the national rankings at 16th and 34th respectively. The Atlantic Region had five women’s teams on the starting line at the national meet last year led by automatic qualifiers St. Lawrence and Geneseo. Cortland, Plattsburgh and NYU all received at-large berths.
For more information about the meet, you can visit the Region championship homepage at: http://www.stlawu.edu/athletics/node/7588
