UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Five Midshipmen finished in the top 25 as the Navy men's cross country team posted a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship on Friday afternoon at the Blue and White Cross Country Course on the campus of Penn State. Murphy Smith (8th), Justin Mumford (15th), Jackson Nguyen (18th), Alexander Kirkland (19th), and Luke Nester (21st) all finished in the top 25 among the 192 individuals who completed the 10K race.
 
The fourth-place team finish was the best for Navy under current head coach Aaron Lanzel.

"Every Navy man ran aggressive, fearless, going step for step against three ranked teams, punch for punch over 10 rounds of a thousand meters consecutively," Lanzel said after the race. "Now we have an agonizing result. We ebb and flow between joy that our team and individuals are with the best, sorrow for coming up short, and numb disbelief that the outcome was the difference of splitting a hair three ways to determine who goes to the national championship.
 
"If this caps off the season, it is still a great one I will never forget. The future is promising with the competitive mindset that is now flowing from Murphy, Justin, Jackson, Alexander, Luke, Matthew, and Patrick."
  
Led by individual medalist Liam Murphy and runner up Marco Langon, No. 14 Villanova posted a team-low score of 50 to claim one of the automatic bids into the NCAA Championship. No. 18 Princeton and No. 29 Georgetown tied with 80 points apiece with the Tigers winning the tiebreaker 3-2 over the Hoyas to secure the second automatic qualifying bid. Navy was one point back with 81 total points, while meet host Penn State rounded out the top five with 129 points as a team. Pitt (180 points), Penn (190), La Salle (191), Temple (246), and George Washington (324) closed out the top-10 of the event.
 
Navy was close to the top of the leaderboard throughout the 10K race. The Midshipmen were third through the first two checkpoints at 1200m and 3100m, before moving into first place at the midway point. The Mids were second through the final checkpoint at 8800m before ultimately finishing fourth in the 10K race.
 
As a team, the Mids' top five averaged a time of 30:02.6 with just under over 30 seconds (31.5 seconds) separating their top five finishers.
 
Smith, who was Navy's top finisher in all six races he competed in this fall, once again took the top spot for the Midshipmen, notching his second consecutive top-10 finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Last season, he finished third overall to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship.
 
Smith clocked a time of 29:44.0 to lead all Midshipmen. The senior was in the top 20 throughout the race, coming in 19th through the first marker and 12th at the second checkpoint. Midway through the race, Smith had moved into sixth place and in a tight pack moved up two additional spots at the final checkpoint at 8800m before crossing the finish line in eighth place.
 
Mumford continued his excellent junior campaign coming in 15th overall with a time of 29:57.6. He opened the race in 38th, but worked his way into the top 20 to finish seven spots back of Smith and second among the Navy runners.
 
Nguyen and Kirkland finished back-to-back in 18th and 19th, respectively. Nguyen clocked a time of 30:07.8 to finish just ahead of Kirkland who crossed the finish line with a time of 30:08.1. Nester, who served as the team captain for the 2024 campaign, came in two spots back of Kirkland in 21st overall with a time of 30:15.5 to round out the Mids' top five.
 
Junior Matt Newell and freshman Patrick Gandini posted times of 30:34.1 and 30:52.7, correspondingly, in their first NCAA Regional appearances. Newell finished 28th overall, while Gandini came in 39th.
 
The Midshipmen will find out their postseason future during 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Selection Show on Saturday, November 16. The show will air at 5:00 p.m. on NCAA.com. A link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com.
 
Navy Top 7
8. Murphy Smith – 29:44.0
15. Justin Mumford – 29:57.6
18. Jackson Nguyen – 30:07.8
19. Alexander Kirkland – 30:08.1
21. Luke Nester – 30:15.5
28. Matt Newell – 30:34.1
39. Patrick Gandini – 30:52.7