Elon Phoenix Cross Country Prepped for Southeast Regional

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Earlysville, Va., to compete at the 2017 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 10, on the course at Panorama Farms. The meet begins with the women’s 6K at 10:30 a.m. followed by the men’s 10K at 11:30 a.m.

Meet Info | Live Results

Follow @EU_XCTF
Updates of the meet will be posted on Twitter at the programs’ handle, @EU_XCTF. Other updates will also be provided at the handle, @elonscores. There will be live results of the meet that can be found on the program’s schedule page at elonphoenix.com.

About the Field
The meet will feature 41 programs on the women’s side and 39 representing the men’s side. NC State took the men’s and the women’s regional championships last season as the Wolfpack women head into the meet on Friday ranked No. 1 in the latest regional poll. Colonial Athletic Association foes James Madison (No. 11) and William & Mary (No. 15) also sit in the top-15 rankings of the region on the women’s side.

On the men’s side, Furman is the top ranked team in the region heading into Friday’s meet followed by Virginia Tech and defending regional champion NC State. CAA member William & Mary sits at No. 8 in the region after earning its 17th straight league championship on Oct. 28 at the CAA Championships.

The top-two teams from each of the nine regions will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. An additional 13 at-large teams will receive berths to the meet. Those selections are expected to be announced Monday, November 13. Furthermore, four individual athletes from each region who finish in the top-25 (not part of a qualifying team) will also be chosen to compete at the championships. The NCAA committee will then choose two final individuals at-large.

Last Time Out
Elon hosted the 2017 CAA Cross Country Championships on its home course on Oct. 28, in its most recent competition. Both the Phoenix men’s and women’s teams earned third place finishes in their respective races and had four All-CAA honorees between the two squads.

Senior Brigid Brennan led the Phoenix women again as she finished eighth in the women’s 6K race to earn All-CAA honors for the first time. Junior Coralea Geraniotis and sophomore Melissa Anastasakis received all-league accolades for the second straight season after finishing ninth and 11th, respectively. Brennan clocked a time of 21:44.68 in the women’s 6K while Geraniotis was the next Phoenix runner to cross the line with her time of 21:49.38. Anastasakis ran a time of 21:57.56 to better her individual place from last season.

In the men’s 8K race, Nick Ciolkowski earned All-CAA honors for the third consecutive season as the Fairport, N.Y., native was fourth in the race. The reigning two-time defending CAA individual champion, Ciolkowski fell short of his attempt to three-peat as medalist honors went to JP Trojan of William & Mary. Ciolkowski ran an 8K time of 25:12.59 in only his second meet of the season.

In Competition this Weekend
The Phoenix women will have five members racing this Friday as Anastasakis, Brennan, Geraniotis, Chelsea Smith and Corey Weiss are all scheduled to compete. Elon will look to continue its streak of having a runner earn All-Region accolades for the fourth straight year and besting its 11th-place standing from last season’s Southeast championships.

The Elon men is scheduled to line up Ciolkowski, Michael Germinario, Richie Kasper, Colton Lawson, Justin Leopold and Greg Paugh. Ciolkowski will look for a chance to earn All-Region accolades for the first time in his career on Friday after he did not finish the race at last year’s meet due to an injury. The Phoenix will look to better its 27th overall finish from last season.

Up Next
If the Phoenix or any individual runners qualify for the NCAA Championships, they will run at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky. on Saturday, November 18.