WINNECONNE, WI. -- The men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Wisconsin to run the NCAA Regionals meet at UW Oshkosh on Saturday. All around, it was a great race for Principia! The men's and women's teams raced extremely well, gaining ground and overtaking many teams that had been beating them all season. The men were the second SLIAC team in he race, finishing very narrowly behind Webster. The women were also the second SLIAC team at Regionals, finishing behind a very tough Greenville squad. The men and women had finished 5th and 6th at conference, so this was a big step forward.
Nate Richards finished 15th in the men's race, which earned him a spot at NCAA Nationals and also earned him a spot on the All Region team. His 24:34 was a personal best by over a minute, which he had lowered significantly at the SLIAC Championships two weeks ago at Forest Park. Zachary Matthiessen ran a big PR, 26:45, to finish second for us, with Shane Witters-Hicks just behind in 26:58. Finishing our scoring were
Josh Keeley and
Gavin Goodsell, in 29:28 and 29:33. Our displacers were
Mason Switzer and
Andy Crump, in 29:43 and 32:38. It was a great finish to their season.
The women raced at noon, and
Sarah Litwiller led the way, racing in the lead pack from the start. She ran a big season best, and lowed her time from Regionals last year. Her 22:19 was half a minute faster than any race this year, and was good for 30th place in the nation's deepest region. Sarah also was named to the All Region team for the second year in a row.
Shontee Pant was our second finisher, battling the bitter wind to a season's best 25:10.
Kyla Pelletier was next in 25:39, followed by first-year runners
Ariana Dale (26:24),and
Brittney Wright (27:14). Senior
Lucy Weber ran an enormous personal best in 27:23 to round out our finishers.
The coaches and
Nate Richards will head out to Mason, Ohio on Thursday to prepare for Saturday's National Championship race. The race will be live webcase on
NCAA.com so check that out on Saturday!
