BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Junior Jenn Cronin won the NCAA Mid-East Regional meet, becoming LVC's first-ever NCAA National Championship qualifier in the process.
Cronin cleared the field by more than five seconds to win in 21:39.2 on the course at Lehigh University, smashing her PR by 33 seconds and beating Haverford's Emily Lipman (21:44.4) and Gettysburg's Kerrin Epstein (21:45.4).
The LVC women were 27th of 44 teams with 741 points; the men's team finished in 24th out of 45 teams with 704 points. Johns Hopkins won the women's team title, while Allegheny was tops on the men's side with 59 points.
For Cronin, It was only the second career meet victory for the two-time MAC bronze medalist, but she picked a great time to do it in order to move on to the national meet next Saturday hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Highland Hills, Ohio.
"Jenn's finish today was the product of a lot of hard work and sacrifices she's made since she stepped foot onto the LVC campus two years ago as a freshman," said head coach James O'Brien '07. "We're extremely proud of her and couldn't be happier with the way she ran today. She stayed in the front pack as individuals kept dropping off and hit the accelerator coming down the final stretch."
Megan Long was LVC's second-highest finisher, coming in at 23:47.7, good for 55th place. Emily DeVivo was next at 26:43.1 while Tiffany Frederick came across the line in 27:06.2. Brianna Eroh finished in 28:18.2 and Katelyn Sharkey came in at 29:58.6.
Matt Nesmith led the way for the men, crossing the line in 71st place with a time of 26:49.9, 44 seconds under his PR. Teammate Brad Sweigart was next for the Dutchmen in 92nd place and a time of 27:15.9. Nick D'Angelo finished his breakout season with a 47-second PR at 27:27.1 to come in 106th place. Other competitors for the Dutchmen were Alex Talarico (29:24.8), Adam Abruzzo (29:40.0), Patrick Tierney (29:41.4) and Nick Wardle (31:49.5.)
"After MACs, we decided to shut down a few runners to as that was our main team race of the year," O'Brien said. "However, everyone who ran today put in a great effort and the results only show half the story. We return almost everyone for next year from the young team we have and I believe these young men and women have a real excitement for the sport as we move forward."