Atlantic Region Preview (D2)
Men
In the Atlantic region, we see nine of the 10 teams hail from the PSAC which is a conference meet that turned out to be pretty exciting last weekend. With Edinboro on top after jumping Shippensburg at their conference meet, we see Charleston (W. VA) behind them at #2. Shippensburg sits at the #3 (and likely final) . spot for the region.
Edinboro is led by three strong low sticks in Jared Hallow, Ward Ries, and Colton Cassel. They all finished within five seconds of each other at their conference meet to help Edinboro score 48 points on their way to a team title. They defeated Shippensburg by 12 points and have set themselves up relatively well going into the weekend. They finished 9th at Pre-Nationals behind the aforementioned Raiders, but saw a dramatic drop off with their 4-5 runners. While that might not be enough to stop them from moving on, it could create some drama for the rest of the region.
Charleston (W. VA) is the only team that doesn’t hail from the PSAC. They are currently ranked #2 in the region and took home the Mountain East title with 25 points while placing their five scorers inside the top 10 at the meet. They finished 68 points ahead of Edinboro at Pre-Nationals (only one spot in front though) while placing two inside the top 15 with Jack Mastandrea’s 6th finish and David Cecchi’s 15th place finish. We’ll see how good this team is outside of their top two runners this weekend.
Shippensburg probably had an off day at the PSAC Championships meet...right? They still saw their scoring five finish inside the top 16, going 9-10-12-15-16 and they only lost by 12 points. I don’t know if them falling to #3 is fair here as we saw them finish 12th at the Paul Short meet (Brown section) where they beat Charleston (W. VA). Albert Schrimp, Sean Weidner, and Robert Moser have been the usual top three this year and Moser had himself a poor conference meet it seems. If he bounces back, Shippensburg should be back in the thick of it.
Predictions
Team
1. Shippensburg
2. Edinboro
3. Charleston (W. VA)
4. Lock Haven
5. Kutztown
Individual
1. Jason Weitzel (Concord)
2. Robert Moser (Shippensburg)
3. Jared Hallow (Edinboro)
4. Jack Mastandrea (Charleston (W. VA))
5. Sean Weidner (Shippensburg)
Women
As we look at the women’s region, we realize that EVERY team is from the PSAC and that the region is currently headed by Shippensburg, then Edinboro, and then California (PA.). That being said, we are going to dive into the PSAC meet and get started.
Just like the men’s side, we saw yet another close team race. The PSAC Championships saw Shippensburg winning by four points over Edinboro. Natalee Serwatka finished 6th and Isabella Marchini was the second scorer in 9th. The overall 1-5 spread time was just under a minute which played a huge role in keeping them in front of Edinboro. They finished 2nd as a team at the Paul Short meet (Brown) behind a D1 team in Siena. They also finished 3rd at the Gettysburg Invitational, showing us that they can compete in high caliber races. At each of the meets mentioned, they've had a different number one which also goes to show that they are deep and likely ready for the weekend.
Edinboro only finished four points behind them at their conference meet and they were likely to win had their number five runner not finished in 27th. They had their fourth scorer in before Shippensburg's fourth runner, but with a deeper field this weekend, there is a possible chance that they could sneak in and take the win. This team finished 10th at the Pre-National meet behind strong performances from Stefanie Parsons and Abbey Lang. These two and Hope Pietrocarlo will play the biggest roles in ensuring that Edinboro moves on to the national meet.
California (PA.) currently hold the two biggest pieces in terms of potential moving forward. Alicia Belko and Alyson Pierce were the 1st and 2nd finishers at the PSAC meet, giving California (PA.) a seemingly strong advantage. Despite the 1-2 finish, they saw their 3-4-5 runners come in 28-36-44. They’ll obviously need better performances from them this weekend if they want to stay with the two teams that beat them at PSAC's.
Seton Hill and Lock Haven were the 4th and 5th place teams at the PSAC Championships, but going into regionals, I’m not sure that I see enough firepower from either squad to be confident enough in placing them inside the top three. If I had to choose one to sneak in, it would likely be Lock Haven as they have the stronger 1-2 between these two teams.
Predictions
Team
1. Edinboro
2. Shippensburg
3. California (PA.)
4. Lock Haven
5. Seton Hill
Individual
1. Alicia Belko (California (PA.))
2. Skye Christian (Seton Hill)
3. Alyson Pierce (California (PA.))
4. Hope Pietrocarlo (Edinboro)
5. Morgan Ilgenfritz (Bloomsburg)