PHILADELPHIA – Ranked eighth in the region, the Saint Joseph's men's cross country squad will head to the 2018 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship this Friday, November 9. The 10k race is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m., hosted by Penn State University at the Blue-White Golf Course in University Park, Pa.
The top two teams and top four individuals receive automatic qualification for the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championship, to be held on Saturday, November 18 in Louisville, Ky. Overall, the top two teams from each region, plus 13 at-large teams from across the country, will qualify for the national championship. After teams have been determined, 38 additional individuals will be selected to compete at nationals. A complete breakdown of the qualification process can be found by clicking here.
Saint Joseph's seven runners to represent the Hawks at the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship were selected from SJU's 2018 Atlantic 10 Championship roster: junior Zach Michon (10th at A-10s), sophomore Bobby Hastie (18th), senior Will Sponaugle (27th), senior Jack Daly (32nd), graduate student captain Collin Crilly (37th), senior Shawn Hutchison (46th), and sophomore Matthew Scarpill (56th). Senior Sean Macpherson (92nd), SJU's #10 finisher from A-10s, will serve as the alternate.
Hutchison leads SJU with two regional meets ('15, '17) under his belt while Michon ('17), Daly ('17), and Crilly ('16) also have experience at this level. Hastie, Sponaugle, and Scarpill will make their regional debuts.
Defending regional champion Princeton is ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic while Georgetown, Villanova, Penn, and Penn State round out the top five. Temple and La Salle sit 6-7 ahead of SJU while Bucknell, Navy, Pittsburgh, Lehigh, Duquesne, Monmouth, and George Washington round out the top 15. 27 squads are scheduled to race and, sorted by starting box order, include UMBC, Temple, Loyola (Md.), NJIT, Villanova, Seton Hall Lehigh, Saint Francis (Pa.), American, Monmouth, Rutgers, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Princeton, Bucknell, Lafayette, Rider, Penn State, George Washington, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Mount St. Mary's, La Salle, Navy, Duquesne, Marshall, and Penn.
Saint Joseph's finished 11th in a field of 26 teams at the 2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship last fall and return two of their five point scorers in Michon (52nd) and Hutchison (84th) as well as Daly (107th), who finished as SJU's #6 runner.
Led by Michon's 10th-place, All-Conference performance, the Hawks are coming off of a fourth-place team finish at A-10s on October 27.
2017 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional 10k Times
Lehigh University - Goodman Campus
52nd – Zach Michon (31:30.2 PR)
84th – Shawn Hutchison (32:04.4 PR)
107th – Jack Daly (32:27.6 PR)
2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional 10k Times
Penn State University - Blue and White Golf Course
95th – Collin Crilly (32:45 PR)
2015 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional 10k Times
Princeton University - West Windsor Fields
117th – Shawn Hutchison (33:39.9)
