Nov. 12, 2005

Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Navy women's cross country junior Justine Whipple (Duxbury, Mass.) posted the 10th-fastest time among 182 competitors to lead the Midshipmen to a 10th-place performance out of 26 teams at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Saturday afternoon at Lehigh.

No. 14 Princeton topped the field of 26 teams with a score of 64 points, followed by Villanova with 98 points. No. 27 Georgetown posted a 103-point effort for third-place, LaSalle finished fourth with 127 points and Maryland and Bucknell tied for fifth-place with 187 points. Navy's 302 points placed 25 points behind Rutgers for ninth-place and 16 ahead of 11th-place Duquesne.

Princeton's Cack Ferrell covered the 6k Goodman Campus course in 19:58.3, the only runner to complete the race in less than 20 minutes. American's Keira Carlstrom, Villanova's Marina Muncan and Frances Koons and LaSalle's Rachel Papin rounded out the overall top-five times.

Princeton and American earned automatic qualification for the NCAA Championship on Monday, Nov. 21, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Carlstrom, Papin, Maggie Infeld from Georgetown and Jennifer Schappert from Lehigh also earned automatic bids to the national championship, as they were the top-four runners in the overall top-15 not affiliated with the top-two schools.

Whipple's 10th-place time of 20:58.4 did not automatically qualify on Saturday, as her time was the sixth-fastest time among the non-qualifying schools. However, Whipple still could receive an automatic or an at-large bid from the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee on Sunday evening.

A total of 13 team at-large selections will be made, as well as two at-large individual invitations on Sunday. If LaSalle, Georgetown or Lehigh receive an at-large bid, all of its runners receive an invitation and their times will no longer be counted towards the top-four qualification, moving Whipple's time up to fifth-fastest among non-team qualifiers with a shot at an at-large bid. If two of the teams receive at-large nominations, Whipple would automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship as her performance would rank her fourth among the non-team qualifiers.

Whipple's 20:58.4 performance marked the first-time in her career that she covered a 6k course in less than 21 minutes. The junior's three-fastest career 6k times have occurred on the Goodman Campus course, as she raced to a 21:05 time at the Patriot League Championship and posted a 21:30.0 showing in the Paul Short Invitational. Whipple has recorded Navy's fastest time in each of the six races she has competed in this fall.

The overall top-ten performance was Navy's first at regional competition since Melissa Foon advanced to the NCAA Championship with a third-place effort in the 2000 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. Foon went on to place 75th overall at the 2000 NCAA Championship.

Navy's second-best performance came from fellow junior Allison Barlow (Orange Park, Fla.), as she crossed the finish line in 22:11.6 for 57th overall. Barlow's time was also the fastest of her career, nearly 15 seconds faster than her previous mark at this year's Paul Short Invitational.

Junior Emily Castro (Centennial, Colo.), last year's Navy top-finisher at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, covered the Goodman Campus course in 22:27.3 to place 72nd overall. Sophomore Kyleigh Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.) registered an 83rd-place showing of 22:37.2, while junior Erin Demchko (Nanuet, N.Y.) rounded out Navy's scoring-five with a 22:40.1 effort for 87th-place.

NAVY FINISHERS
10. Justine Whipple - 20:58.4
57. Allison Barlow - 22:11.6
72. Emily Castro - 22:27.3
83. Kyleigh Millhouse - 22:37.2
87. Erin Demchko - 22:40.1
105. Chelsea Decker - 23:09.1
140. Maureen Dooley - 23:47.4