The men and women’s cross country teams came into Saturday’s NCAA South/Southeast Regional with one goal: to qualify for this weekend’s national championships in Cleveland. They accomplished it by earning first and second place finishes, respectively.

The men’s team, ranked 13th nationally, won its meet convincingly. It paced the competition, finishing with 33 points while Lynchburg College (Va.) finished a distant second with 102 points.

The win gives the men their eighth regional championship in the last 11 years.

The team had four runners finish in the top 10 of the 174-runner field. Senior Charlie Meade (26:38) finished third, senior Tommy Fyffe (27:06) came in fourth, senior Alex Robin (27:20) brought home sixth and senior Greg Decker (27:24) placed eighth. Senior Paul Winterhalter (27:37) rounded out the scoring runners with a 13th-place finish. All five runners were named to the all-region team.

The women’s team qualified for nationals for the 19th straight season with a second-place finish. It tallied 100 points and finished behind only Rhodes College, who finished with 35 points.

Sophomore Tess Gallegos (24:04) placed ninth and was followed across the finish line by junior Natalie Fenn (24:08). Senior Rebecca Flink (24:55, 24th place), freshman Calley Edwards (24:58, 26th place) and junior Jenny Feinberg (25:09, 34th place) also got on the board for the Eagles.

Both teams are looking forward to competing in Saturday’s NCAA championship meet.

“Getting to the national championships is the focal point of the season every year. With our history of success, sometimes I fear that we take it for granted. It’s a tremendous accomplishment and it definitely makes the season feel successful,” Head Coach John Curtin said.

The teams have traveled very different paths to reach this point. The men are an experienced group. Six of the seven runners are seniors, and they all have extensive experience running on their sport’s biggest stage.

“The guys are right on target with our expectations. They had a quality finish at UAAs, which is one of the toughest conferences in the country,” Curtin said. “They are a very determined group. Two years ago they finished last at nationals. They’ve stuck together, worked hard, and they got 18th last year.”

Curtin has high hopes for the men in their last chance to compete together.

“The guys are top 10 nationally in my mind. Without a doubt. I expect them to finish in that range,” he said. “They have been working together for four years, and nationals will be the culmination of all that hard work. Now is their chance to cash in.”

On the other hand, the women’s team, which is ranked 35th nationally, is marked by inexperience and only has one senior, captain Rebecca Flink.

“The women didn’t fare well at UAAs, but they bounced back at regionals,” Curtin said. “They are very young. Making it was a bonus. It will be a great experience for them.”

Most of the women have limited experience racing on the national level and Curtin has set his expectations accordingly.

“We reached our nationals goal. I don’t want to put it all on one race, but in our sport this is the one that counts. This will be a huge experience for our runners coming back. We want to finish strong and record the fastest individual times of the year. If we can do that then we have to be happy with it,” he said.

The championship meet will feature 32 teams, each of which have seven runners competing. The field will be rounded out by the runners who posted the top 56 times in the regional meets whose teams didn’t qualify for the race.

Curtin and his teams are ready for what is sure to be both team’s toughest challenge of the year.

“This the biggest race of the year. There is nothing else like it. Everyone is good. There’s a mix in other meets, but in this one it will stay intense throughout,” he said.

The meet will be hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland. The women’s 6K begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. and will be followed by the men’s 8K at noon.

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