INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (pacathletics.org) - Following a very successful weekend at Regional Championship meets, eight runners, including four men and four women, from Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) programs have qualified for the 2024 Cross Country Championships, which will be Saturday, Nov. 23rd in Terre Haute, Ind.
The men's contingent is led by a pair of runners from Washington & Jefferson College in sophomore Dominic Flitcraft (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) and senior Brock Pennington (North East, Pa./North East), while Geneva College senior Kevin Arseneaux (Yarmouth Port, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth Regional) and Saint Vincent College graduate student Tim Patterson (Butler, Pa./Butler) have also qualified for nationals.
Women from four different PAC schools will represent the conference at Championships. Headlining that group is W&J junior Claire Anderson (Jamestown, Pa./Jamestown), who made history at the Regional meet. Also preparing to compete in Terre Haute is Grove City College senior Lydia Bennett (Bethel, Maine/Gould Academy), Saint Vincent freshman Grace Neubert (Saint Marys, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and Allegheny College junior Chloe Bonson (Penn Township, Pa./Penn-Trafford).
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is hosting the championships Nov. 23 at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by the men's race at noon Eastern.
A live web stream of the championships will occur on NCAA.com beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern time until the conclusion of the awards ceremony.
In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA regional competitions. Bonson qualified while running at the Great Lakes Regional meet in Shelbyville, Ind., while the others were competing at the Mid-Atlantic Championships in Lock Haven, Pa.
Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top seven-person team automatically qualified from each of the 10 regions. Twenty-two additional teams were selected at-large. Seventy individuals, the first seven student-athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship.
Anderson made history by not only becoming the first W&J women's runner to win a Cross Country Regional Championship but also the first PAC women's runner to win a regional. In the process, Anderson broke the all-time record for the fastest time in the women's 6k at W&J with a time of 21:04.9, breaking the previous standard of 21:09.3 set by Kristen Galligan in 2012. This will mark Anderson's third total trip to an NCAA National event, having earned a spot in the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships as a sophomore, where she finished 107th out of 292, and the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 1500 meters as a freshman.
Just behind Anderson at the Regional meet was Bennett. She earned her first trip to the national championships by placing second after she completed the six-kilometer course in a time of 21:11. Her performance helped Grove City place fourth at the meet, which matches the best regional finish in program history. Bennett, who also won the PAC individual title back on Nov. 2nd, is the first Grove City cross country runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Emily Rabenold competed at the national meet in both 2014 and 2015.
The PAC had three of the top seven runners at the Mid-Atlantic Championships, as Neubert continued her impressive freshman season. The PAC Newcomer of the Year after she placed third at the conference championship meet, Neubert crossed in seventh at the Regional championships with a time of 21:28, which broke the previous SVC 6k record set by Ivette Mejia in 2011 by nine seconds. Her placement also helped the Bearcats finish seventh for the highest place ever for the program at the Region meet.
Bonson's remarkable junior season will continue with a trip to nationals, as she qualified for NCAAs after placing eighth overall at the Great Lakes Regional Championships with the second-best 6K time of her career (22:09.3). Also a First Team All-PAC performer after placing fourth in the conference championship race, which helped Allegheny win its second team title in the last three years, Bonson is the first Gator to run at nationals since the 2021 team earned an at-large bid with a sixth-place team finish at the regional meet.
The four men's runners heading to NCAAs in Indiana all finished within 11 seconds of each other at the Mid-Atlantic Championships. Flitcraft was the first to cross, taking 10th place overall with a time of 24:44.5, which is the second-best 8k time in W&J history. A First Team All-PAC runner with a third-place showing Nov. 2, Flitcraft improved 13 spots from his regional finish a season ago to earn his trip to NCAAs, which also helped the Presidents finish eighth as a team, their highest recorded finish at a regional championship.
Taking 12th place at the Mid-Atlantic meet was Arseneaux. He finished the 8k course in a time of 24:48 to become the first male Geneva runner to qualify for national championships since the school joined NCAA Division III in 2011. Arseneaux was the runner-up at PAC Championships two weeks ago, which followed his individual conference championship in 2023, and the senior runner is now a three-time All-Region performer as well.
Now a three-time All-Region runner as well is Patterson, who placed just behind Arseneaux in 13th place with a time of 24:50.6. Patterson won the 2024 PAC Championship on Nov. 2nd, becoming the sixth Bearcat to win the conference title. He is also a two-time national qualifier, as Patterson earned a spot at the 2023 national meet by finishing ninth a season ago at the Mid-Atlantic event.
Pennington just made the field for NCAAs by taking 16th to earn the final spot in the region. His PR time of 24:55.4 slots him third all-time at W&J just behind Flitcraft. Pennington placed fourth at PAC Championships on Nov. 2nd to earn his second consecutive First Team all-conference honor. Flitcraft and Pennington will be the first W&J runners to compete at the NCAA race since Harley Moyer and Grant McCarthy qualified in 2018.
In addition to qualifying for NCAA Championships, those eight, along with four others from PAC programs, earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region recognition with their performances. Athletes earned All-Region distinction by virtue of a top-35 finish at one of the ten regional sites this past weekend. Only athletes from USTFCCCA member institutions are eligible for awards.
Joining the other four men with All-Region accolades was Franciscan University graduate student Miguel Daez (Sterling, Va./Holy Family Homeschool), who crossed in 29th place at the Great Lakes Regional with a time of 25:41.29.
A total of seven PAC women finished with All-Region laurels, with two additional Grove City runners and one from Allegheny placing inside the top 35 with the four NCAA qualifiers. By finishing 23rd with a time of 22:45.7, Allegheny senior Marrin Crist (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area) joined Bonson with All-Great Lakes Region honors. The two other All-Mid-Atlantic Region runners from Grove City included seniors Grace Smith (Dover, Ohio/Dover) and Ella Lyle (Hurricane, W.Va./Ignite). Smith finished 26th overall with a time of 22:09.6 while Lyle earned 30th by posting a time of 22:12.4.
Story contributions from Allegheny, Geneva, Grove City, Saint Vincent and W&J Sports Information