Slippery Rock women’s cross country traveled to Lock Haven to compete against 23 other schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Atlantic Region Championship on Saturday.
The race kicked off at 10:30 in the morning with 167 runners at Lock Haven’s 6,000-meter West Branch Course.
Davis and Elkins College finished first with a total of 58 points. Lauren Twyman was first to finish for the Senators in fourth place fashion with a time of 21:29.
Slippery Rock came in eighth place with a total of 232 points, just six points behind Shippensburg University.
Jennifer Cichra was the first to cross the finish line for the White and Green. Her time of 21:54 was good enough for a 13th-place finish.
Last season, the junior earned first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) honors with a 12th-place finish at the championship. With the 13th-place finish on Saturday, she earned All-Region honors.
Carissa Flynn was the second scorer, finishing in 43rd place with a time of 22:43. Three places behind her was Hannah Burgoon, finishing only four seconds later.
Flynn finished last season in the top five four times and earned a second-team All-PSAC with her 28th-place finish in the championship.
Burgoon ran a season-best at last year’s NCAA Atlantic Region Championship, crossing the finish line at 22:58.
Rounding out SRU’s top five were Lydia Valeriano in 64th and Gwen Lloyd in 70th. The two finished in the 24th minute.
Kayla Hanna was the sixth and final finisher for The Rock, coming in 102nd in 23:55.
Slippery Rock had seven runners start the race, but only six finished. Senior Ruthie Hughes, who had missed the last month due to an injury, had to drop out after the mile mark when she was in sixth place.
The NCAA Atlantic Region Championship brought the cross country season to a close. Several Rock runners will now turn their attention to the indoor track and field season, which kicks off in December.
