by Perri Williams
All nine of the Regional Cross-Country Championships got underway today with some positive results for Irish athletes. Three individual Irish athletes are certain to make the NCAA nationals: Laura Nicholson, Laura Mooney and Anika Thompson. The providence ladies will also see Niamh O’Mahoney, Cara Laverty and Anna Gardiner get through. Others will have to await their fate to see if they can gain at-large selection.
Starting with the Great Lakes Regions Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC) finished 7th place with her Toledo team finishing in third place. Laura has now individual qualification for the NCAA which will be held in Wisconsin next weekend. Her team will have to wait for the “at-large” selection process to see if they make it through. They were only three points behind Wisconsin with Notre Dame the winners.
In the Midwest Finn Valley’s Eimear McCarroll was 53rd just one place ahead of Wicklow’s Roisin Treacy in 54th. McCarroll is a freshman at Bradley where two other Irish athletes Louise O’Mahoney and Edel McCreery also started this year. Treacy is a junior in Loyola after spending one year already at Adam’s State. Sarah Hosey (Doneen AC) took 83rd place for her Tulsa team. Tulsa’s Shay McEvoy (Kilkenny City Harriers) finished 19th with his team having to wait the at-large fate. It was good to see McEvoy return to racing with just one race under this belt after a period of injury.
The Mountain region is where the University of Colorado compete. Ireland’s Dean Casey made the transfer to Colorado this year along with his coach Paul Colston. It is a very competitive region that features BYU, New Mexico and Northern Arizona, all teams that feature high in the NCAA finals. Casey finished 38th and fourth scorer for his team.
Ray Treacy knew he had a strong team this year and their big win in the Northeast Region seals their NCAA fate. The Friar’s ladies team will now contest the nationals. They had four athletes in the top ten including Ireland’s Laura Mooney (Tullamore), who finished 10th. The providence ladies also featured Niamh O’Mahoney (An Riocht) in 29th and Cara Laverty (Finn Valley) in 40th. Last years Irish u20 champion Anna Gardiner (East Down) was 57th. The Northeast Region features more Irish athletes than any other region with both Providence and Iona two Irish strongholds competing. Competing with Iona, Claragh Keane (DMP) was 93rd with Muireann Duffy (Clonmel) 108th. Iona were 18th team out of the 39 that took part. Putting the finishing places in perspective – 273 ladies took part in this race. Harvard also takes part in this region and Shane Brosnan (An Riocht) was Harvard’s second scorer, finishing in 10th place. It was Brosnan’s Harvard teammate Graham Blanks that won the race. Providence’s Michael Morgan (Sligo AC) was the next of the Irish home, finishing a creditable 16th place, with his team-mate, freshman Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC) taking 37th place and the third scorer for Providence. Tadgh Donnelly (Drogheda and District) finished in 70th place, representing Iona, just three places ahead of Providence’s Shane Coffey (Naas AC). Providence Freshman Liam McKay (Finn Valley) rounded off the providence team in 84th. Shane Bronsan made it through individually, however his Harvard team were 2nd gaining that automatic qualification. Iona finished 4th which means a waiting game for the at-large selection. They were only two points adrift of Cornell in third. While it is close, usually it is the at-large selection comes from the third placed team.
There was just one Irish athlete competing in the South-Central region; Ryan McCarthy (Leevale) representing McNeese. McCarthy finished 112th, the first McNeese man across the line in a race that contained close to 200 individuals.
The Western Region saw three Irish athletes take part. Anika Thompson (Leevale) representing the University of Oregon finished an excellent 7th place, this assuring individual qualification. Her Oregon team were outright winners securing 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 12th and 22nd. Also competing in the West Region was Meabh Richardson (Kilkenny City Harriers) who crossed the finish line in 26th place. Richardson was the fourth scorer on the Portland team that finished 5th. Behind her in 33rd representing Washington was Ballymore/Cobh AC athlete Sophie O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan will have to wait to see if Washington who were 3rd team gets the at-large call up.