Senior Leah Brogan has never qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship. But after her 18th-place finish (out of 191 runners) at Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Regional, she may well be on her way. Now, it's up to the NCAA committee to decide.
"She ran a great race," coach Gwen Harris said.
The women's cross country team finished ninth out of 26 teams at its final fall meet, a result with which Harris was pleased. The men also had an impressive performance on Saturday following a poor display at the Ivy League Heptagonals, in which the team finished in last place.
"Our top eight guys ran awesome," coach Charlie Powell said. "It was nice to rebound with a solid race like this."
The men's team placed eighth out of 24 teams, ahead of Navy, Maryland, Bucknell and Pittsburgh, among others. The Quakers also did a much better job staying close with top-rival Princeton than they did two weeks ago.
"At Heps, Princeton put five guys in front of our second runner," Powell said. "On Saturday, their top five didn't finish ahead of our top three runners."
The Mid-Atlantic Regional is 10 kilometers instead of the usual 8K, making it imperative that the upperclassmen step up. Penn's top finishers were seniors Sean McGinley and Brian Trembley, who came in at 32nd and 35th overall, respectively.
"The seniors were flying," Powell said. "They really came up big for us."
And thanks to those performances, the Quakers were able to walk away from their fall campaign on a high note.
"It's been a topsy turvy season," Powell said. "That's what you get when you're young; however, we feel very good about the future."
