Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional
Tigers Look to Secure Top Two Finish at NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional
November 08, 2017 | Men's Cross Country
The Official Mid-Atlantic Regional Website
The Princeton men's cross country team races for a spot in the NCAA Championships, when it runs at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional at Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., on Nov. 10.
The men's 10k race will be at 11:45 a.m., Friday. The top two teams in the regional will advance to the NCAA championship meet, which will be held Nov. 15 in Louisville, Ky.
Princeton is ranked No. 2 in the region behind Georgetown. Both teams are receiving votes in the national poll. Rounding out the top five in the region are Penn, Villanova and Penn State. Twenty-two other teams will compete including: American, Bucknell, Delaware, Duquesne, George Washington, La Salle, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola, Marshall, Monmouth, Mt. St. Mary's, Navy, NJIT, Pitt, Rider, Rutgers, St. Francis (PA), Seton Hall, St. Joseph's (PA), Temple and UMBC.
The crown has won by just three different teams. Georgetown has captured the two most recent titles and has nine all-time, Villanova has won twice and Princeton won in 2010.
Additionally, the top four runners on non-qualifying teams will earn at-large bids to the NCAAs.Senior Noah Kauppila has been Princeton's No. 1 runner all season. He was second overall at Heps last week and was third overall at the Princeton Invitational. Kauppila was named NCAA All-Region last fall as he placed 22nd as the Tigers' No. 4. Sophomore Conor Lundy will be taking part in his third competition this season. He was the No. 2 in both of his previous meets and was third overall at Heps. Last year he was third at the NCAA Regionals to earn an individual at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Senior Garrett O'Toole has been in the top three all season long, and finished fourth overall at Heps last week. The final two scoring spots could be taken by a number of other runners including sophomore Viraj Deokar. He was all-region a year ago as the No. 3 runner finishing 18th and was the final scorer at Heps last week. Sophomore Gannon Willcutts was the No. 4 at Heps and was the final scorer at the Regional last year. Additionally, senior captain William Paulson has a chance to score as well. This will be his third race of the season. He was the No. 4 at the Princeton Invite and was the No. 7 at Heps. After finishing third overall at Heps a year ago, Paulson was unable to compete at the NCAA Regional so he looks to make an impact in his first Mid-Atlantic race.
