Georgetown's Jonathan Green Won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional
Providence, Villanova Women's Teams; Top Individuals Set For NCAA X-C Championships
NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Conference will be represented by two women’s teams in additional to individual competitors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 18.
The Providence and Villanova women’s teams qualified at their respective NCAA Regionals last weekend. Providence won the NCAA Northeast Region title for the third straight year to earn an automatic bid to the nationals. Villanova qualified by taking second place in the Mid-Atlantic Region. A BIG EAST team has won the women’s NCAA title in four of the last eight years.
For the Friars, Catarina Rocha, the 2017 BIG EAST Individual Champion, was the top finisher. She placed fourth at the Regionals with a time of 21:37.2. Brianna Ilarda, who was the runner-up to Rocha at the BIG EAST meet, was sixth at 21:47.9.
For the Wildcats, Bella Burda won the Mid-Atlantic Regional race with a time of 20:01.5. She became the ninth Villanova regional champion since the current NCAA Regional format began. Villanova will be making a team appearance in the NCAAs for the ninth time in the past 10 years. The Wildcats have won a record nine national titles.
Xavier senior Madeline Britton and Creighton junior Emily Martin qualified as individuals. Britton placed 12th at the Great Lakes Regional with a time of 20:53. Martin’s qualification is the first in Creighton history. She finished eighth among 225 runners at the NCAA Midwest Regional, tying the school record in the 6K with a time of 20:22.8.
Georgetown qualified a runner for the men’s and women’s races. Jonathan Green, a graduate student, is going to the NCAAs as an individual after winning the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region. Green’s time for the 10K was 30:28.3. He was the individual winner at the BIG EAST Championship a couple of weeks earlier. Hoya freshman Martha MacDonald made it to the NCAAs by placing ninth overall in a time of 20:18.4.
In the USTFCCCA national polls of Nov. 13, the Providence women were ranked ninth with the Villanova women slotted at 13th.