ELON, N.C. – The Elon University cross country programs head to Rock Hill, S.C., for the 2018 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 10. Hosted by Winthrop University, the meet will be held at the Winthrop Farm Cross Country Course. The women’s 6K race will be the first to be contested, beginning at 11 a.m. followed by the men’s 10K at 12 p.m.
Live Results • Meet Information
Follow @ElonXCTF
Updates of the meet will be posted on Twitter at the programs’ handle, @ElonXCTF. Live results for the NCAA Southeast Regionals is available on at the programs’ schedule page at elonphoenix.com. A full recap will be posted on elonphoenix.com following the completion of the meet.
National Qualifying Process
A total of 31 teams will qualify for next weekend’s NCAA Championships in Madison, Wis., on Nov. 17. Automatic qualification will be given to the top two teams at each of the nine regionals. The remaining 13 slots will be filled in an at-large selection process. Individually, 38 additional athletes will be added to the NCAA Championships field and the top four runners at each regional not on a qualifying team will be automatically selected. The top-25 finishers at the regional meet will be recognized as All-Region honorees.
Meet Information
The NCAA Southeast Regionals will feature two teams on the women’s side that are nationally ranked in NC State (11) and Furman (16). The Wolfpack and the Paladins are the top two teams in the region on the women’s side with Eastern Kentucky, Virginia Tech and Duke rounding out the top five in that order. The Phoenix is currently 13th overall in the regional rankings and is one of two teams (William & Mary – 12th) from the Colonial Athletic Association that are regionally ranked. Last season, Elon finished 15th overall at the regional championships.
On the men’s side, four nationally ranked teams will be in competition with Eastern Kentucky (16), Furman (20), NC State (26) and Virginia (28). Those squads are the top four teams in the region with Wake Forest closing out the top-five teams in the Southeast. The Phoenix men will look to better its 28th-place standing from last season at the meet.
Running for the Phoenix
Women – Melissa Anastasakis, Grace Dellapa, Coralea Geraniotis, Hannah Preeo, Natacha Savioz, Chelsea Smith, Sophia Tasselmyer, Rachael Wesolowski
Men – Nick Ciolkowski, Michael Germinario, Cooper Jansson, Richie Kasper, Colton Lawson, Andrew Miller, Kieran Ungemach, Connor White
Quick Splits
• Elon last competed at the CAA Championships in Farmingdale, N.Y., on Oct. 26. The Phoenix women was the runner-up at the meet with 65 points while the maroon and gold men were third overall with 81 points.
• Coralea Geraniotis captured individual medalist honors in the women’s 6K race as the Orleans, Mass., native took home her first conference title. Geraniotis clocked a personal-record time of 21:13.20 and became the first Elon female to win an individual championship.
• The Phoenix women was edged out by William & Mary in the women’s race, 63-65, at the league championships. The two-point margin separating the Tribe and the Phoenix was the closest CAA Women’s Cross Country Championship since 2004.
• Nick Ciolkowski earned All-CAA honors for the fourth straight season as the Fairport, N.Y., native was fourth overall in the men’s 8K. Ciolkowski set a new school-record in his race with a time of 24:11.00, besting Luis Vargas’ ’14 previous record of 24:11.37.
• Since joining the CAA in 2014, Elon has had an individual runner win an individual conference championship four times between the men’s and women’s teams.
• Melissa Anastasakis joined Geraniotis on the All-CAA team as the Hillsdale, Ontario, native was 10th overall with a new personal-best time of 21:36.20. Andrew Miller of the Elon men also received all-league accolades as the Fleming Island, Fla., native was 12th with a personal-record time of 24:41.80.
CAA Championships Recap
After Geraniotis and Anastasakis, Chelsea Smith and Hannah Preeo were the next Phoenix runners to cross the line for the maroon and gold women. Smith clocked a personal-record time of 21:54.00 while Preeo was next with her time of 21:54.40 as the pair were 14th and 15th, respectively. Natacha Savioz broke into the top-25 of the race as the fifth runner for the Phoenix and her time of 22:12.90.
Michael Germinario was the third runner to come across the line for the Phoenix male harriers with his new personal-best time of 24:57.30 while finishing 18th overall. Richie Kasper also added a personal-record time with a 25:30.10 while coming in 29th. Cooper Jansson was the fifth runner for the Elon men with his time of 25:36.50 and was 31st overall.
Up Next
Any Phoenix athlete that qualify for the NCAA Championships will compete on Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis.