Women's Cross Country | November 14, 2019
PHILADELPHIA – Two weeks removed from winning the Atlantic 10 Championship, the La Salle University women's cross country team turns its focus 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.
- WOMEN'S START: 6K – 11 a.m.
REGIONAL RANKINGS
- La Salle is ranked eighth in the latest USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region rankings. There will be 31 women's teams competing in Friday's 6K regional.
- The Explorers are the top A-10 team in the rankings and sit behind just Penn State, Villanova, Georgetown, West Virginia, Penn, Princeton and Temple.
HISTORY AT REGIONALS
- Senior Grace Mancini was the Mid-Atlantic Regional runner-up last year, advancing to the NCAA Championships in the process.
- La Salle placed 11th out of 30 teams at the 2018 regional at Penn State.
- In 2015, La Salle finished ninth in the region led by Morgan Szekely, who was the last Explorer to qualify for back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2014 and 2015.
- Prior to that, La Salle finished sixth as a team at both the 2011 and 2012 regional championships. The Explorers have had NCAA qualifiers on nine occasions in Sheila Klick ('03), Rachel Papin ('05-'07), Meghan McGlinchey ('12), Michelle Capozzi ('13), Morgan Szekely ('14-'15) and Grace Mancini ('18).
WHO TO WATCH
- Grace Mancini will look to come away on top this year after placing second a year ago. The senior earned all-conference honors for the third straight year after placing third at the A-10 Championships on Nov. 2.
- Sophomore El Mancini, who also earned all-conference honors, will be right there with her sister after finishing fourth at A-10's. She finished 88th out of 205 runners at regionals last year.
- The third Mancini to keep an eye on is Liz Mancini, who placed 30th at the regional championships a year ago. She recently turned in a 19th place finish at the A-10 Championships.
- Freshman Jerika Lufrano stormed onto the scene at the A-10 Championships to help the Explorers win the title. She earned both all-conference and Most Outstanding Rookie Performer honors behind a ninth place showing.
- Junior Lexi Sciortino placed 33rd at the A-10 Championships, while freshman Christine Mancini was 47th. Juniors Allana Powlette and Deirdre Gilmore were also close behind, and both competed at last year's regional as well.
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 will take place Saturday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, Ind. The IC4A/ECAC Championships are the same day in the Bronx.
