UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Navy women's cross country team wrapped up its 2018 season with action at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship on the campus of Penn State University on Friday. Racing as part of a 30-team field on the 6K Penn State Blue Course, the Mids saw
Ali Valenti (Sr., Lansdale, Pa.) and
Grace West (Jr., Pinehurst, N.C.) tally top-50 finishes to help the team to a 16th-place result.
The Mids' top finisher at last year's Mid-Atlantic Regional in Bethleham, Pa., Valenti, a Pennsylvania native, performed well in her home state again on Friday as she completed the 6K course in University Park with a time of 22:07, good for 38th overall. She was the third fastest runner from the Patriot League at the event as only American's Adriana Hooks (28th - 21:51) and Bucknell's Ashley Blair (36th – 22:06) bested her.
West kept pace with Valenti throughout much of the contest and clocked in 12 seconds back at 22:19. The Mids' top finisher in four of their six races in 2018, West crossed the line in 50th place.
A tightly-packed trio of Midshipmen over a run of 14 positions (103 through 116) closed out the team's scoring at the championship.
Emily Craig (So., Reistertown, Md.) led the group in 103rd place with a 23:08 result.
Karla Mendoza (Jr., Madison, Neb.) and
Rachel Fairbanks (Sr., Jamesville, N.Y.) came in back-to-back in 115th and 116th place with times of 23:20 and 23:21, respectively.
Caitlin Schmitt (Jr., Evergreen, Colo.) and
Caroline Ascherl (Jr., Granville, Iowa) closed out the Mids' lineup on Friday as they individually placed 122nd (23:26) and 130th (23:31).
Villanova won the team title with 33 points. Sophomore Rachel McArthur led the Wildcats' effort with the individual championship win with a time of 21:03. Princeton secured the second automatic berth into next week's NCAA Championship Meet with 64 team points.
Amongst Patriot League competitors in the field, Navy's 422 team points were third behind Bucknell's 237 (8th place) and Lehigh's 374 (13th place). American (19th – 524), Lafayette (24th – 680) and Loyola (25th – 746) also raced on Friday at Penn State.
