ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's and women's cross country programs are back in postseason action this Friday with the running of the 2024 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. Hosted by Penn State University in University Park, Pa., the women will be first on the 6K Blue and White Cross Country Course as the Mids are one of 33 teams in the 12:00 p.m. race. One hour later at 1:00 p.m., the men will be competing among a field of 30 teams in a 10K race.
 
Both programs will be focused on securing one of the top-two qualifying positions in the national NCAA Championship meet on Saturday, November 23 in Madison, Wisc.
 
Should a team not nab one of the two automatic bids, there are also a limited number of at-large team selections and at-large individual selections that are determined following meets from across the NCAA Division I landscape. The top-four individuals from each regional not on a qualifying team are automatically are selected, while any other finisher in the top-25 is placed into the at-large national pool as a potential at-large individual.
 
Meet Participants – Women
American, Bucknell, Delaware, Delaware State, Duquesne, George Washington, (#8) Georgetown, Howard, La Salle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola, Marshall, Maryland, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Navy, Penn, (#20) Penn State, Pitt, (RV) Princeton, Rider, Robert Morris, Rutgers, Saint Francis, Seton Hall, St. Joseph's, Temple, Towson, UMBC, (RV) Villanova, (#5) West Virginia
 
Meet Participants – Men
American, Bucknell, Delaware State, Duquesne, George Washington, (#29) Georgetown, Howard, La Salle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola, Marshall, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Navy, NJIT, Penn, Penn State, Pitt, (#18) Princeton, Rider, Robert Morris, Rutgers, Saint Francis, Seton Hall, St. Joseph's, Temple, UMBC, (#14) Villanova
 
Mid-Atlantic Women's Regional Championship (12:00 p.m.)
This will be the 24th time that the Mids have competed at the NCAA Regional Meet since 2000. The team's best finish during that span was a fifth-place finish in 2000, while placing seventh at the 2008, 2011, 2012, 2021, and 2022 events.
 
Last season, the Mids posted a 10th-place overall finish among the 27 teams that competed on the 6K Goodman Campus Cross Country Course at Lehigh University. Ellie Abraham ('24) led the Mids' effort as she crossed the finish line with a time of 21:12.7, which was her second-best 6K time of the season.
 
Last Five Mid-Atlantic Regionals
2018: 16th of 30
2019: 12th of 31
2021: 7th of 27
2022: 7th of 26
2023: 10th of 27
 
Mid-Atlantic Men's Regional Championship (1:00 p.m.)
Navy is in search of its 13th bid to the NCAA Championships as a team after finishing fifth at the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Regional.
 
Murphy Smith continued his tremendous cross country 2023 season with a third-place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. Hosted by Lehigh University and run over the 10K Goodman Campus Cross Country Course, Navy finished fifth as a team among the 26 teams that competed. With his third-place finish, Smith qualified for the NCAA Championship.
 
Smith's third-place finish was the highest by a Navy individual since Jake Brophy ('20) finished second at the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Regional as a senior. Additionally, the fifth-place finish as a team is the highest for the Midshipmen under head coach Aaron Lanzel and best since a second-place performance under then-head coach Al Cantello in 2017.
 
Last Five Mid-Atlantic Regionals
2018: 8th of 24
2019: 8th of 25
2021: 8th of 26
2022: 7th of 26
2023: 5th of 26
 
Last Time at the Penn State Blue and White Cross Country Course (Sept. 19, 2024)
WOMEN – 10th of 17 teams at Spiked Shoe Invitational (6K)
The Navy women's team notched a 10th-place finish in the women's collegiate 6K at the annual Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State at the Penn State Golf Courses. Senior Alex Wercinski paced the team with a 21:38.7 in her first competition of the season.
 
Wercinski finished 55th overall in the field of 209 runners that completed the race. Senior team captain Olivia Lutkevich and junior Sophie Compton finished back-to-back. Lutkevich clocked a time of 21:41.8 to finish 66th, while Compton was one spot back with a total time of 21:45.1. Junior Mia-Claire Kezal crossed the finish line just behind Lutkevich and Compton with a time of 21:47.5. Junior Samantha Woodworth and sophomore Lexi Ensor finished in order to come in fifth and sixth among Navy runners. Woodworth posted a time of 22:06.4, while Ensor was three tenths of a second back with a 22:06.7. Freshman Madeline Palmisciano closed out the Mids' top seven with a time of 22:15.7.
 
Senior Katelyn Pepin (22:19.0), freshman Jane Phillips (22:20.4), and junior Kate Leddy (22:21.2) finished in order for the Mids, just outside of Navy's top seven performers. Just handful of spots back for the Midshipmen were freshman Daisy Dastrup (22:23.8) and senior May McConkey (22:25.8). Freshman Paige Sheiffele (22:54.0), freshman Julia Blake (23:21.0), and sophomore Reilly Nussbaum (24:00.8) also competed in the race for the Mids.
 
Meet host Penn State, who was receiving votes in the most recent USTFCCCA national poll, claimed the team title with a low score of 42, while No. 29 Syracuse took second with a combined tally of 62. Princeton was third with 78 points, while UConn boasted the individual winner – Chloe Thomas (19:51.8) – was fourth in the team standings with 91 points. Pitt (164 points) was one-point ahead of Penn (165) to take fifth and Missouri (217), Maryland (242), Bucknell (257), and Navy (290) rounded out the top 10.
 
MEN – 7th of 18 teams at Spiked Shoe Invitational (8.4K)
Navy senior Murphy Smith finished a half a second back of individual medalist Sam Lawler of Syracuse to finish second overall with a time of 24:56.0 and lead the Navy men's cross country team to a seventh-place team finish in the men's 5.2-mile race at the annual Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State at the Penn State Golf Courses.
 
Smith, who was competing in his first competition of the 2024 season, was edged out by Lawler by a half a second for the individual medalist spot.
 
Junior Jackson Nguyen was second among the Midshipmen distance runners, taking 15th overall with a time of 25:26.1. Sophomore Logan Flament and senior team captain Luke Nester were third and fourth among the Mids in the race. Coming off of a solid performance at the Cantello Invitational, Flament posted a time of 26:00.5 in the 5.2-mile race, while three spots back Nester crossed the line with a time of 26:02.4 in his first action of the season.
 
Freshman James Partlow notched a time of 26:17.5 to round out Navy's top five, while sophomore Owen Ahten (26:32.5) and senior Sean Miller (26:34.4) closed out the Mids' counters in the race. Senior Ben Countiss (26:41.6) also competed for the Midshipmen.
 
No. 22 Syracuse boasted the individual medalist en route to a first-place team finish with a low score of 31 points. Georgetown, who was receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA national poll, was second with 70 points with Missouri (147 points), Columbia (163), and meet host Penn State (165) rounding out the top five. Pitt was two points back with 167 to finish ahead of Navy who claimed seventh with 190 points. Penn (196), Temple (260), and St. Joseph's (260) rounded out the top 10 with Buffalo (297), UMBC (326), UConn (332), Monmouth (376), Bucknell (385), Lehigh (399), Duquesne (470), and Loyola (558) closing out the field.