MT. MORRIS, N.Y. – Cortland senior
Kailyn Balzano (East Greenbush/Columbia) finished in 21st place out of 266 runners to earn all-region honors at the NCAA Div. III Atlantic Regional women's cross country meet, hosted by SUNY Geneseo at Letchworth State Park.
Cortland finished eighth out of 37 teams in the final standings with 212 points. Geneseo won the title with 75 points, followed by Oneonta at 89 points, and both of those teams earned automatic bids to next week's NCAA Div. III Championships in Winneconne, Wis. The team finishers after those two teams are eligible for at-large berths, in the order of their regional finish.
Cortland is theoretically alive for an at-large team berth, but five other schools (RPI, St. Lawrence, Rochester, RIT and Ithaca) would have to be chosen first before the Red Dragons are considered.
Balzano was clocked in 22 minutes, 43.5 seconds over 6,000 meters. The top 35 runners earned all-region awards. She is a possible individual national qualifier, depending on which teams are chosen to compete. The top seven finishers not on teams advancing to nationals qualify for individual spots, and Balzano would earn one of those spots if RPI, St. Lawrence, Rochester and RIT all earn team bids.
UPDATE (11/15/15): Cortland was not chosen as an at-large team, but Balzano was selected as one of the Atlantic Region's seven individual qualifiers for nationals.
Of the 32 team slots at nationals, 16 are automatic bids (two per region) and 16 are at-large based on regional finish, with no limit of schools from any one region. The announcement of team and individual qualifiers will be made at the end of the weekend.
Junior
Allison Schumann (North Salem) barely missed earning all-region honors with a 36th-place time of 23:02.0. Senior
Kerri Culhane (Sayville) was 39th in 23:05.3. Megan Kellogg of St. Lawrence won the race in 21:44.6.
Rounding out Cortland's contingent were senior
Kayla Blomback (Orchard Park) in 57th place (23:34.4), sophomore
Megan Wagner (Niskayuna) in 59th place (23:36.1), senior
Jackie Boyce (Schaghticoke/Greenwich) in 81st place (23:52.8), and sophomore
Sara Billings (Gansevoort/South Glens Falls) in 116th place (24:28.2). The Red Dragons were competing without the services of junior
Mary Baughman (Rush/Rush-Henrietta), the SUNYAC runner-up two weeks ago, who was out due to injury.
Complete Results (Men)Complete Results (Women)
