Women’s Cross Country Qualifies for NCAA Championships, Men’s Team Places Fourth at Mid-Atlantic Regionals

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Penn State women’s cross country team rocked the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals with a second-place overall finish (79 points), earning automatic qualification to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The Nittany Lion men posted an impressive finish of their own, coming in fourth place (122 pts) in the region.

The women’s squad qualifies for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships for the first time since the 2019 season. This year’s squad, a combination of veterans and newcomers, ran a gritty race to punch its ticket to Nationals.

WOMEN’S 6K CHAMPIONSHIP RACE 

The Nittany Lion women earned four Mid-Atlantic All-Region honors, with their top four finishers placing inside the top 15 runners as the team qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2019.

Florence Caron was Penn State’s top finisher, coming in 11^th place with a 19:59.9. Maddie Ullom (20:04.9, 12^th) and Sophia Toti (20:08.2, 13^th) finished just seconds behind Caron. Kileigh Kane placed 15^th with a 20:14.4, rounding out the womens team’s All-Region finishers. Claire Zubey (28^th, 20:48.8) completed Penn State’s top-five, helping the Nittany Lions to their 79 team points, Faith DeMars, and Hayley Kitching complimented the top five, solidifying the squad’s second-place finish. Six of the seven Nittany Lions hit their personal-best 6K times in the race, further solidifying their outstanding performance on the afternoon.

Penn State came in behind No. 4 Georgetown (48 pts) and in front of Penn (104 pts) in the team standings.

Penn State Women’s Top Seven Results (79 pts): 

Place (Points)  Runner                         Time               Notes