Women's Cross Country | 11/11/2017 1:20:00 PM
HOUGHTON, NY – The RIT women's cross country team finished eighth out of 41 teams at the 2017 NCAA Atlantic Region Championship held at Field of Dreams Park on the campus of Houghton College on Saturday morning. Junior
Becca Schwan (LeRoy, NY/LeRoy) earned All-Region honors.
RIT, who entered the race ranked eighth in the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region poll, finished with a team score of 260 points. Geneseo, ranked third nationally, won its third straight NCAA Atlantic Region Championship, finishing with 41 points. Liberty League rivals took the next three spots, as Ithaca (102), Rensselaer (121) and St. Lawrence (153) were second, third and fourth, respectively.
Taryn Cordani of Ithaca won the Atlantic Region individual title with a time of 21:24.3 over the 6,000-meter course, 19 seconds ahead of runner-up Elsie Ramirez of Geneseo.
Schwan led the way for the Tigers, finishing 21st overall to earn her second consecutive All-Region honor. Schwan crossed the finish line in a time of 22:44.4. Schwan was in the top-30 throughout and made a strong late push over the final 1,000-meters. She will be in contention to earn an individual berth for the NCAA Championships.
Senior
Jennifer Crossen (Bason, NY/Oakfield-Alabama) ran her best race of the season, sitting in the top-20 for the first 3,000-meters before earning a 37th place finish with a time of 22:59.9 to just miss earning All-Region accolades.
Junior
Alexis Scott (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) finished 45th overall, completing the 6,000-meter course in a time of 23:16.3, which shattered her previous best by nearly 19 seconds. Classmates
Brooke Busa (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) and
Alaina Celeste (Oswego, NY/Oswego) rounded out the scoring runners for the Tigers, placing 79th and 80th, respectively. Busa finished the race in 23:49.9, while Celeste was a second behind. Both recorded career-best times.
Junior
Emma Snyder (Nunda, NY/Nunda) was 87th overall in a personal-best time of 24:01.0, while senior
Kylie Trettner (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) finished 93rd overall in 24:09.2.
The Tigers were just one of five teams to have all seven runners finish in the top-100. Four of RIT's seven runners recorded personal-best times in today's race.
Geneseo and Ithaca, the top two team finishers from today's race, automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Principia North Farm Course Park in Elsah, IL. Sixteen other at-large bids will be awarded from the nation's eight total regions, while the top seven individual finishers from each region not on one of the team qualifiers will earn an invitation to the national championships. The announcement of NCAA Championship teams and individuals will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 12.
