Men's Cross Country | November 14, 2019

PHILADELPHIA – After winning the Atlantic 10 Championship two weeks ago, the La Salle University men's cross country team switches gears as it heads to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Friday.
 
2019 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional

• WHEN: Friday, Nov. 15
• WHERE: Goodman Campus Cross Country Course – Bethlehem, Pa.
• MEN'S START: 10K – 12 p.m.

REGIONAL RANKINGS

• The Explorers enter the race ranked ninth in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region rankings. There are expected to be 27 men's teams racing in Friday's 10K regional.
• La Salle is the top ranked team in the A-10 and stands behind Villanova, Georgetown, Temple, Penn, Princeton, Penn State, Navy and Pitt.

HISTORY AT REGIONALS

• The Explorers placed seventh out of 24 teams at last year's NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional behind three top-50 finishers.
• It was the best finish for La Salle since 2013, bettering its eighth place mark at the 2015 regional. The Explorers previously placed sixth at both the 2011 and 2013 regional championships.
• The last all-region performer for La Salle was Fran Ferruzzi, who placed 17th individually at the 2016 regional. Before that, Alfredo Santana finished 14th at the 2011 championship.
• La Salle has had an NCAA qualifier five times in Kevin Myles ('98), Todd Witzleben ('01-'02) and Sean Quigley ('05-'06).

WHO TO WATCH

• Junior Luke Jaciw-Zurakowsky led the Explorers to the A-10 title after placing third individually to earn all-conference honors. He was also La Salle's top finisher at the Mid-Atlantic Regional last year, finishing 35th out of 169 runners.
• Sophomore Ibrahim Kedir collected all-conference honors for the second straight year after finishing fifth at the A-10 Championships. Kedir came in 41st at regionals last year.
• Redshirt senior Anthony Hawthorne also earned all-conference honors, placing eighth at the conference championship. He has finished in the top 100 in both of his regional appearances and was La Salle's top finisher at the 2017 regional.
• Redshirt senior Nathan Gillis posted a 17th place finish at the A-10 Championships and finished 57th at last year's regional meet.
• Junior Ryan James was the second Explorer to cross at the 2018 regional, placing 38th. He finished 24th at A-10's, while Most Outstanding Rookie Performer Alex Sandras was 20th and sophomore Joe Boyle also finished in the top 100.

NCAA QUALIFICATIONS

• A total of 31 teams make it to the NCAA Championships. There are 18 automatic bids and 13 at-large bids. The top two teams at each regional earn automatic spots in the NCAA Championships.
• Individually, for those not on NCAA-qualifying teams, the top four finishers at the regional are automatically selected to NCAA's if they finish in the top 25. Two additional athletes are then selected from the remainder of the national pool of at-large individuals.

ON THE HORIZON

• The NCAA Championships are slated for Saturday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, Ind. The IC4A/ECAC Championships will take place on the same day in the Bronx.