UMBC

Senior Alex Hyland finished 13th overall at the NCAA Regionals as she ran a time of 20:38.

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—The UMBC men’s cross country finished in 19^th place with 532 points, and women’s cross country senior Alex Hyland (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) ran a blistering 5:33 pace to finish with a time of 20:38 for the 6K race, good for 13^th place overall at the 2007 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa.

According to the NCAA Championship guidelines, the top two teams at each of the nine regional sites advance to the NCAA Championship, leaving 13 teams to vie for at-large bids.  In addition, the top four individual finishers at each site, whose teams do not qualify for the championships, also advance to the NCAA Championship meet as well as two at-large individual selections.

In the Mid-Atlantic Region, Princeton and West Virginia claimed the top two spots on the women’s side, while Georgetown and Penn State finished third and fourth.  If Georgetown and Penn State, which are ranked 20^th and 28^th according to the last national poll on Nov. 6, qualify their teams for the championship meet, Hyland will be the fourth finisher of the remaining individuals whose teams did not qualify and earn a bid to the NCAA Cross Country National Championship race.  At-large selections will be announced no later than 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11.

Other Retriever participants on the women’s side included junior Suzanne Richards (Backwell, England/Longborough University), who finished 83^rd in a time of 22:28 and sophomore Suzanne Gabriel (Falls Church, Va./McLean), who finished 97^th in 22:44.

On the men’s side, junior Anthony Kelhower (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) led the Retrievers across the line as he dropped over a minute from his personal-best time to finish with a time of 31:23 in the 10K race, good for 41^st place.

Freshman Paul Zwama (Groningen, Netherlands/CSG Dingstede) crossed second for the Retrievers as he finished in 92^nd place with at time of 32:19.

Freshman Chris Bowie (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase), sophomore Andrew Madison (Edgewater, Md./South River), and freshman Chris Snyder (McConnellsburg, Pa./McConnellsburg) rounded out the scoring five as they finished in 112^th, 134^th, and 169^th place with times of 32:52, 33:16, and 34:29, respectively.

The 2007 NCAA Cross Country National Championships are scheduled for Sat., Nov. 19 at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind.