Women's cross country ready for eighth showing at national championships

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Individually or as a unit, the Elizabethtown College women's cross country team has been represented at every NCAA Division III Championship since 2003. The Blue Jays will make their eighth appearance as a team tomorrow after getting an at-large bid with a fourth-place finish at last weekend's Mideast Regional. The women's race will start at 12 p.m.

THE MEET
The 36th edition of the women's 6k race will be comprised of 280 runners from 81 different institutions. The top six teams from the 2014 women's championship return, including defending champion Johns Hopkins, who can tie the NCAA record with its fourth-straight championship with a win Saturday. Tomorrow's race features the top five teams in the USTFCCCA poll; No. 1 Hopkins, No. 2 Williams College, No. 3 Washington University, No. 4 Tufts, and No. 5 Middlebury College.

Elizabethtown moved up to No. 27 in the latest poll, climbing four spots in the final rankings before the championship meet.

LAST TIME OUT
E-town competed at Wilmington (Ohio) in last year's national meet, placing 28th out of the 32-team field. Amanda Kerno was the Jays' highest finisher, taking 75th. Senior Lydia Dearie was 144th and sophomore Maria Anderson was 218th. Three of Elizabethtown's five scorers from the 2014 meet have since graduated.

The Blue Jays highest team finish was 11th in 2010 at Wartburg (Iowa). The last time E-town competed at Oshkosh, the team finished 22nd.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Casey Quinto led EC at last weekend's regional meet with a tenth-place finish, her first All-Mideast Region honor. She was followed by Dearie (25th) and Brenna McNamee (29th), who were also named All-Mideast for finishing inside the top 35. It was Dearie's second straight all-region performance.

As a team, Elizabethtown finished fourth and received an at-large bid to make it to the national championship meet. It is the program's fifth trip to the big dance in the past six seasons and third straight overall.

CHAMPIONSHIP MEET INFO
The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships are being hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis.

The awards ceremony for both the men and women will take place at 2:45 p.m. in the university's Kolf Sports Center.

Admission of $5 per person (children under five are free) will be charged at Winneconne High School (100 Wolf Run, Winneconne 54986) for use of the shuttle service. No parking will be available at the Golf Club.

Live results of the race can be found here.

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Players Mentioned

Amanda Kerno: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Maria Anderson: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Lydia Dearie: 5' 4"; Senior

Brenna McNamee: 5' 4"; Sophomore

Casey Quinto: 5' 10"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Amanda Kerno
: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Maria Anderson
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Lydia Dearie
: 5' 4"; Senior

Brenna McNamee
: 5' 4"; Sophomore

Casey Quinto
: 5' 10"; Junior