On Friday, Penn cross country traveled to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships held at Lehigh University.
The women’s team, led by senior Liv Morganti, secured a third-place team finish with 104 points. The men’s team finished in eighth place with 225 points. This third-place finish by women's cross country is tied for the best performance at NCAA Regional Championships in program history, and is Penn's best performance ever at Lehigh.
Morganti raced a program-record Regionals time of 19:50.2 and placed fifth overall on the 6k course. With this time, she automatically qualified for NCAA Championships — to be held this upcoming weekend in Charlottesville, Va. — for the first time in her collegiate career. Morganti has had a successful season, placing sixth and securing a first-team All-Ivy spot at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Boston just a few weeks ago.
Fellow senior Maeve Stiles finished the course in 19:57.1 — a career best and the second-best in program history at this competition — and ended up in eighth place. While she is not guaranteed to go to NCAA Championships for the second straight year, she still has a path to Charlottesville via an at-large pool.
An additional bright spot for women's cross country came from sophomore Lily Murphy, who also made the All-Region team with a career-best time of 20:24.1 and a 20th-place finish.
For the men, sophomore Sahil Dodda led the Quakers and placed 22nd overall on the 10k course with a personal best time of 30:07.7. This time landed him a spot on All-Region for the first time in his collegiate career. This honor is in addition to the second-team All-Ivy honor Dodda received for his 13th-place finish at Ivy League Heptagonal Championships a few weeks ago. However, this result was not good enough to qualify for National Championships.
Looking ahead, the Quakers will race again at the NCAA National Championships in Charlottesville, Va. on Nov. 18th at 10:00 a.m.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate