Akron Cross Country Set to Compete at NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Friday, November 10

Terre Haute, Ind.

University of Akron

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Akron Cross Country Set to Compete at NCAA Great Lakes Regional

November 09 | Cross Country

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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's and women's cross country teams will continue their postseason competition on Friday, Nov. 10, traveling to Terre Haute, Ind., for the 2017 NCAA Great Lakes Regional, hosted by Indiana State University at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

The women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 11:15 a.m., with the men's 10-kilometer race to follow at 12:15 p.m.

The meet serves as the qualification event for the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 18 in Louisville, Ky.

The top two teams on both the men's and women's side on Friday will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship meet. Following the nine regional meets across the country, 13 additional teams will earn at-large bids following a review of regular-season competition and finish at the regional championships. After teams have been determined, 36 additional individuals per gender are selected to compete at the national meet, including the top four finishers at each regional who are not a member of automatically-selected teams. Two additional at-large individuals will be selected by the committee.

The women's field will feature runners from 34 schools, including 10 from the Mid-American Conference in Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan.

Scheduled to compete for the Zips will be redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia), sophomore Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio), redshirt junior Elizabeth Mosier (Austintown, Ohio), sophomore Hannah Pineault (Morgantown, W.Va.) and freshmen Vanessa Rivera (Seville, Ohio), Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio) and Whitney Wendling (Lexington, Ohio).

"The women's team is recharged from conference and ready to roll again for regionals," said Akron head women's cross country coach Bridget Franek. "We will be stacked up against some very tough competition and it will be a great chance for us to test ourselves. We are hoping to come away from the meet having challenged (and beaten) some of the teams that have beaten us previously this season and with a few new P.R.'s."

A year ago, in the women's 6K race, Mosier led the Zips' efforts turning a team-best time of 22:29.8 to place 122nd, while Pineault was next across line for Akron posting a time of 22:38.7 to finish 135th.

Competing in her final cross country race as a Zip was Natalie Zidd, who crossed the line in 22:42.3 (141st).

Rounding out the scoring efforts for Akron was Hess (22:42.5/142nd) and Morgan Buckley (23:34.6/183rd).

The men's field will feature runners from 30 schools, including eight from the MAC in Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Ohio and Toledo.

Scheduled to compete for the Zips will be freshman Andre Bollam-Godbott (Brunswick, Ohio), redshirt sophomore Nick Campbell (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), senior Garrett Crichlow (Twinsburg, Ohio), redshirt sophomore Jeremiah Fitzgerald (Mantua, Ohio), sophomore Marc Migliozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa.), redshirt freshman Jacob Ondash (Hiram, Ohio) and sophomore Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio).

In 2016, redshirt sophomore Tevin Brown (Toledo, Ohio) directed the Zips' men's squad crossing the line in 32:17.7 to place 80th in the men's 10K race. Crichlow finished seconds behind him registering a time of 32:21.6 placing 84th.

Stricklen, senior Eric McCabe (Hilliard, Ohio) and Martin Zegarelli completed Akron's scoring efforts registering times of 33:33.6 (146th), 33:40.9 (149th) and 34:03.6 (168th), respectively. Additionally, sophomore Samuel Blechman (Bradford Woods, Pa.) completed the championship course in 36:01.4 (199th).

The Zips are coming off their efforts at the MAC Cross Country Championship on Oct. 28 in Oxford, Ohio, where Crichlow and Andrews headlined the efforts of the Akron men's and women's cross country squads. The Zips' men's team placed sixth, while the women finished 10th.

Crichlow finished the 8K course in the men's race sprinting past the line in a personal-best time 24.43.6 to finish sixth. By virtue of his sixth-place effort, Crichlow garnered first-team All-MAC honors for the second time.

Migliozzi followed Crichlow across the line for the Zips earning second-team All-MAC accolades on the strength of recording a personal-best time of 25:07.5 to finish 10th overall.

In the women's 6K race, Andrews covered the course in 22:06.7 to earn a 33rd-place finish.

Rounding out the Zips' scoring efforts for the men was Stricklen, Brown and Fitzgerland, as the trio posted times of 25:26.3 (25th), 25:58.8 (45th) and 26:00.4 (46th), respectively.

Also competing for the Zips in the league championship was Bollam-Godbott (26:20.9/57th), Blechman (26:25.0/61st), Campbell (26:30.2/65th) and Ondash (26:40.8/67th).

Hess and Rivera followed Andrews across the finish line for the Zips' women's squad recording times of 22:22.3 (43rd) and 22:46.0 (63rd).

Completing Akron's scoring runners was Scarton (22:57.3/70th) and Mosier (23:02.3/72nd).

Also racing for the Zips in the championship was Pineault (23:04.0/73rd), Wendling, sophomore Alyssa Thomas (Green, Ohio) (23:23.9/85th), junior Tarike Osuobeni (Columbus, Ohio) (24:07.7/97th).