Atlantic Region Preview

Men's Preview by Quenten Lasseter

Women's Preview by Grace McLaughlin

---

Men's Preview

The Charleston (W.V.) Golden Eagles will look to defend their 2018 Atlantic regional title this weekend as they face challengers from Shippensburg and Edinboro.

So far this season, Charleston has had great success, as their most noticeable performance came at the Royals Cross Country Challenge. The Golden Eagles finished 4th overall in that meet behind top teams such as Lee, Mount Olive, and Queens. The eye-opener at this meet was low-stick Jack Mastandrea’s (TSR #7) time of 23:41, which gave him a runner-up finish and also a new school record.

As for Charleston’s #2 and #3 runners, they dipped into the 24-minute time range with performances of 24:34 (Kyle Hinson) and 24:39 (Alex Kitony).

Most recently at the Mountain East Championships, Charleston successfully captured their second consecutive title with Jack Mastandrea leading the way again, winning the individual crown. The team put all seven of their runners in the top 15 in order to score 20 points, well ahead of Davis & Elkins' 45 points.

Only losing by just 14 points at last year’s Atlantic Regional Championships, the men of Shippensburg will look to rebuild after losing their top three runners from last season due to graduation. As you can imagine, having eight out of your 11 runners on the team being freshmen can be tough on a team, as the Raiders recently finished 3rd at the PSAC Championships.

However, not all hope is lost as Shippensburg is led by great young talents such as freshmen Chayce Macknair and Andrew Foster. Each of these men finished in the top 20 at their conference meet, with Macknair being the top freshman overall in the race. It will be interesting to see how these first-year collegiate runners react at the regional meet as the Pirates look to return to the NCAA Championships.

Edinboro is the team this weekend that will be looking to shock a lot of people with the hope of knocking off Charleston for the regional crown. The Fighting Scots took down PSAC defending champions Shippensburg at their conference championship without their top runner Colton Cassel (who was out due to injury). It is reported that he will be back for regionals this weekend after his 11th place finish last year.

Returners Ward Reis and Brendan Oswalt will be back to better their All-Region accolades from last year as both had stellar performances at the PSAC Championships, acting as two low-sticks for their team.

The only question that weighs for this Edinboro team is how healthy Colton Cassel will be on race day. If he is anywhere close to 100%, then you better believe that the Fighting Scots will be ready to challenge for that Atlantic region crown.

Individually, the heavy favorite is, of course, Jack Mastandrea (TSR #7). Mastandrea finished 3rd overall last year at the Atlantic Regional Championships, but his improvement this season has put him in the conversation for the individual crown. Teammate David Cecchi is an interesting factor as he was runner-up, beating Mastandrea at this meet last year.

Cecchi has had a bit of a down year as he was Charleston’s #4 runner at their conference meet. If he gets back to the shape he was in last season, both of these men will have an opportunity to go 1-2.

The most recent individual winner of the PSAC championships, Joseph Westrick of Gannon, will look to cement his legacy this weekend. The senior has had a stellar 2019 as he has three individual wins dating back to early October. Westrick placed 5th overall last year at the Atlantic Regional Championships and will try to build off of his 2019 success as he looks to qualify for Nationals and maybe even add an individual regional title to his name.

Men's Predictions

Teams

1. Charleston (W.V.)

2. Edinboro

3. Shippensburg

4. Concord

5. Indiana (Pa.)

Individuals

1. Jack Mastandrea (Charleston)

2. Kyle Hinson (Charleston)

3. Alex Kitony (Charleston)

4. Joseph Westrick (Gannon)

5. David Magda (Davis and Elkins)

6. Evan Adanatzian (Kutztown)

7. John Marenkovic (Slippery Rock)

8. Ward Ries (Edinboro)

9. Aaron Pfeil (Lock Haven)

10. Jack Lacina (Edinboro)

---

Women's Preview

At a quick glance, the Atlantic region seems to be a bit quiet compared to some of these other regions.

However, there are some solid developing teams competing against each other and this weekend's race should be strongly contested. There really isn’t a clear front-runner or a guaranteed winner.

In other words, anything can happen, and that is pretty dang exciting to me.

The Atlantic Regional Championships will more or less be a rematch of the PSAC Championships, but add Davis & Elkins of the Mountain East conference to the mix.

I predict Davis and Elkins to be the team champions. They started their season with winning the Bethany Invitational, followed by a 2nd place result at the LHU XC Open Invitational. They went on to win the Rt. 33 Cup before recording a 12th place finish at the Royals XC Challenge.

Despite all of their impressive accolades this season, their greatest accomplishment thus far is winning the Mountain East conference title.

Their 12th place finish at the Royals XC Challenge was their only real big race of the season. Their top three (Svea Timm, Anya Miller, and Madison Michels) were all inside the top 41 that day which, generally speaking, is very encouraging.

However, the backend of their lineup may hold some weaknesses as their #4 and #5 runners finished 135th and 154th at the Royals XC Challenge. That may be fine for a regional meet, but it could hinder them at NCAA's.

Regardless, they have improved a bit from a year ago and should earn themselves a spot to Nationals.

Behind Davis & Elkins will likely be the Edinboro women. They were 23rd at Nationals last year and should earn their spot to the Big Dance yet again this year. Edinboro started their season with a 3rd place finish at the Doug Watts Invitational, then an 8th place finish at the LHU XC Open Invitational. However, they really started to pick up some momentum at their larger, more impactful races with a 12th place finish at the Lehigh Paul Short Run (Brown Race) before winning the PSAC title.

Stefanie Parsons is their clear front-runner and gives Edinboro a very strong low-stick at the top of this race. Hope Pietrocarlo will join Parsons as another ace in this race, giving them the edge over most teams in their region this weekend. They'll need both of these women to finish near the top after seeing a time spread of 2:27 at their conference meets a couple weekends ago.

If that happens again, it could be tough to overcome in a race with essentially double the number of athletes.

The runner-ups of the PSAC Championships, West Chester, should be the 3rd place team. They were 10th in this race last year, which just goes to show their huge jump in talent this season.

They won the Philadelphia Metropolitan Invite, were 3rd at the Kutztown DII/III Challenge, 3rd again at the Delaware Invite, and won the Bloomsburg Invite prior to entering the postseason. We will see if they can continue their momentum and possibly sneak into the national meet.

The 3rd place team at the PSAC Championships, Seton Hill, is projected to be our 4th place team. They beat Edinboro twice this season at the Doug Watts Invitational (1st) and LHU XC Open Invitational (3rd) and then won two other meets, the Race in the Park and the Bill Lennox SRU Invitational.

Despite their great regular season, other teams have more experience or have proven that they are peaking at the right time (i.e. PSAC Championships). Although I'm sure Seton Hill will be eager to prove us wrong...

Slippery Rock is the final team that we have battling for a top spot this weekend. They started their season with a 4th place finish at the Doug Watts Invitational, a 7th place finish at the LHU XC Open Invitational, a 3rd place finish at the Roadrunners Invitational, and then a runner-up performance at the Bill Lennox SRU Invitational before finishing 4th in their conference.

This team is consistent and plenty familiar with their competition. That familiarity should allow them to hang around some of these top teams for a good portion of their race this weekend.

On the individual side of things, Edinboro could have three in the top 10 with Stephanie Parsons, Hope Pietrocarlo, and Tori Klimowicz.

Laurel Mayer and Cadie Kiser of Lock Haven have had solid seasons thus far and were especially impressive at their conference meet. This train of thought also applies to Caitlyn Padgett and Alexis Cunningham of Seton Hill who should be able to contend with the top pack.

Kacey Raible (Slippery Rock), Claire Otte (Davis and Elkins), and Hannah Kemp (West Liberty) round out my top 10 predictions. Anna Elbert of Mercyhurst and Kimberly Goerss of Edinboro could infiltrate the top 10 as well based on their consistency and respectable results so far this season.

As I mentioned previously, this meet consists of several developing teams as well as several athletes with almost identical talent levels. With national qualifying on the line, we should see some gutsy, all-out performances.

Women's Predictions

Teams

1. Davis and Elkins

2. Edinboro

3. West Chester

4. Seton Hill

5. Slippery Rock

Individuals

1. Stephanie Parsons (Edinboro)

2. Hope Pietrocarlo (Edinboro)

3. Laurel Mayer (Lock Haven)

4. Caitlyn Padgett (Seton Hill)

5. Tori Klimowicz (Edinboro)

6. Cadie Kiser (Lock Haven)

7. Alexis Cunningham (Seton Hill)

8. Kacey Raible (Slippery Rock)

9. Claire Otte (Davis and Elkins)

10. Hannah Kemp (West Liberty)