WILLIAMSPORT, PA – Two weeks after senior Michelle Herman (Altoona, Pa./Hollidaysburg) earned her school record second All-Middle Atlantic Conference selection, Lycoming College’s fastest women’s cross country runner in school history will wrap up her career when she takes to the starting line at the NCAA Mideast Regionals at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pa., on Nov. 10.
The 8K men’s race will kick off the championships at 11 a.m. with the 6K women’s race following at 12 p.m. With 10 runners allowed in the regionals, the top four teams that place on each side will get to choose seven runners to compete at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17 in Terre Haute, Ind. The top seven finishers in the 464-runner race not on one of those four teams will also earn a bid to the championships as an individual.
Second Team All-MAC selection Herman finished 17th in the MAC Championships with a time of 25:19.36 while battling the elements and a wet course at Misericordia University. Healthy and with a clear and sunny 59-degree day in the forecast entering the Mideast Regionals, Herman will get a chance to approach her finest race, when she finished in 24:14.90 to take 94th at the 2009 NCAA Mideast Regionals. Throughout this season, the Warrior captain has posted two sub-25 minute races.
In the preview meet for the regionals, Herman posted a time of 25:08.90 and finished 38th in a field of 211 runners.
Senior Ashley Buck (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Township), who joined the team in early September, has come on strong during her six meets this season, posting a time of 25:56.60 at the Lock Haven Invitational, and she gives Herman a solid compliment.
Behind the senior pair, a youthful group will help the Warriors, under first-year head coach Regina Collins, place for the first time in school history.
Freshman Rachel Salmon (Lock Haven, Pa./Central Mountain) finished third for the Warriors at the MAC Championships, posting a time of 29:04.17, and sophomore Kelsey Rawson (Waldorf, Md./North Point) also crossed under the 30-minute mark at the meet, posting a time of 29:54.58. In the fifth scoring slot, freshman Chelsea Henderson (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) posted a time of 30:14.11 with junior Carmen Niemeyer (Brookings, S.D./Brookings) right behind at 30:22.50. Sophomore Heather Cunningham (York, Pa./Central York) was right in the mix with that pack of Warriors, posting a time of 30:31.44, marking just 40 seconds between the team’s fourth and seventh slots.
Also running at the MAC Championships are junior Meredith Ellmore (Lothian, Md./Southern), who notched a time of 31:38.86 in her third collegiate race, and sophomore Meaghan Jones (Lansdowne, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara), who has dropped more than six minutes off her 6K time this season, most recently running a 34:35.83 at the DeSales Invitational.
On the men’s side, the Warriors will look for a group of tightly-placed runners in the middle of the pack to help the team to improve on its 41st-place finish during the 2011 regionals.
Freshman Peter Rittenhouse (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown Community) has led the Warriors all season, wrapping up the regular season by running the first sub-30-minute 8K of the season at the DeSales Invitational. At the MAC Championships, he led the squad with a time of 31:06.70.
During the last four races, the Warriors have had the same top three, led by Rittenhouse and followed by junior Mike Puchalski (Redlands, Calif./Redlands East Valley) and sophomore Alex Bottorff (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse). Puchalski is running his best since his freshman year, when he posted a time of 29:34.28 at the MAC Championships. At DeSales, Puchalski ran a 30:38.45. Bottorff has also dropped his times all year, running a 31:25.14 at the DeSales Invitational.
To take up the final two scoring spots at the championships, the Warriors have a corps of five runners who can factor into the points, as sophomore Louis Lara (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph), who has run an abbreviated schedule this year due to ROTC training, finished in 32:54.55 and freshman Josh Allabaugh (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area), who will join the wrestling team after the regionals, posted a time of 32:59.24.
Freshman Jacob McClain (Cogan Station, Pa./Jersey Shore Area) made some great strides throughout the year, dropping five minutes off his 8K time this year, running a 34:19.82 at the MAC Championships. Sophomore brothers Rory and Chris McAtee (Easton, Pa./Wilson Area) have challenged each other all year long, with Chris beating Rory for the first time at the Dickinson Long/Short Invitational. Rory dropped below 30 minutes at the NCAA Mideast Regionals in 2011 and Chris posted his best time of his career with a time of 32:41.10 at the Lock Haven Invitational.
A pair of seniors will also run to wrap up their careers at the regionals in Kevan Guerin (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) and Pat McAtee (Easton, Pa./Wilson Area). Rounding out the team’s lineup is freshman Jamal Nelson (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley). Guerin has improved throughout the season, dropping his time down to 33:48.77 at the DeSales Invitational. McAtee and Nelson are two of the team’s most improved runners in their first years of cross country running, with McAtee dropping his time 14 minutes from Sept. 1 to the MAC Championships, where he ran a 38:12.43. Nelson dropped his time four minutes, from 39:13 to 35:14.34 at the MAC Championships.
