Lehigh Races to 14th Place Finish at NCAA Regional

Friday, November 10

Bethlehem, Pa.

10:45 a.m.

Lehigh University

NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional

Photo by: Don Paul

Lehigh Races to 14th Place Finish at NCAA Regional

11/10/2017 3:50:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

Complete Results: TFRRS | PDF

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's cross country team raced to a 14th place finish on Friday morning at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, hosted by Lehigh at the Goodman Campus XC Course. Totaling 433 points, Lehigh finished third among Patriot League teams at the meet. Penn State took top honors with 31 points, followed by Villanova with 60 points as both teams qualified for the NCAA National Championships. Georgetown finished third, followed by Princeton and Pittsburgh to round out the top five.

Lehigh was paced by junior Maura Henderson who placed 60th overall out of 193 finishers in 21:30.8. The time ranks as the 10th fastest time run by a Lehigh female in school history on the 6K course at Goodman, with Henderson now holding three of those marks, the most of any Lehigh runner.

"It was a top 15 finish, and if all things had fallen into place perfectly, we were hoping for top 10 finish," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "We had to battle through some things throughout the season, and a lot of our kids stayed consistent and had good seasons. Stacie Nadel had a very consistent season and has been our No. 2. Jenn Mickens has had tremendous development moved into the top seven at Patriots. And the pack of Crawford, Hammerstone, Hayes and Bonaguidi also had solid seasons for us."

Henderson was followed by junior Stacie Nadel in 84th place (21:50.8) and sophomore Ashleigh Crawford in 90th (22:00.9). Sophomore Hannah Bonaguidi placed 94th overall with a time of 22:04.2 to place fourth on the team. Diana Hammerstone set a new 6K PR with her time of 22:11.2, finishing 105th overall. Stephanie Hayes placed sixth (109th overall) in 22:14.2, and Jenn Mickens rounded out Lehigh seven runners with a 116th place time of 22:19.7.

"It's one of those things that seems like we raced more competitively than we did at Patriots, but we're disappointed that we didn't land in the top 10, which we are definitely capable of," Utesch said. "We did a good job battling through some of the things we were faced with. But, we did not race any seniors here today, so we have everybody back next year and this will be a great experience to build on in the coming years."

Overall, the Patriot League had a very strong showing on the both the men's and women's sides on Friday at regional meets. In addition to Lehigh's Patrick Reilly qualifying for nationals, Navy's men automatically qualified as a team and Bucknell's men finished in eighth following tiebreaker with Lehigh. Navy had three individuals and American had two of its runners join Reilly on the USTFCCCA All-Region team by virtue of finishing in the top 25 overall. Over in the Northeast Regional, PL champ Army West Point finished third overall and has put themselves in possible contention for a spot at the national championships. Three runners also earned All-Northeast Region honors on the men's side. On the women's side, Bucknell's Christine Bendzinski also qualified for the NCAA Championships.

The opportunity to host a regional meet is significant for Lehigh, and its importance was certainly not lost on the program and the university as a whole.

"I think it's just a great statement to the quality of the facility we have here at Lehigh," Utesch said. "The event staff, facilities and our team pitches in to put on a tremendous event. It went smoothly from the officials to the preparation of the course. It is a great facility and gave us a chance to showcase it on a national level."

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