RELEASE DATE: 11/04/05

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MANSFIELD CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS ENJOY RECORD-SETTING DAY AT EAST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Lock Haven -- Mansfield University’s cross country teams had record-setting performances on Saturday afternoon during the East Regional Championships, hosted by Lock Haven University.

The women’s team finished fifth out of 26 teams with a final score of 191 on the 6K course. The finish was the best for a Mountaineer women’s team at the regional meet in school history. Mansfield edged out sixth place Shippensburg by nine points. Edinboro took first place in the meet with 33 points and four runners in the top ten.

On the men’s side, Mansfield finished 13 out of 25 teams. The Mountaineer’s Chris Cummings finished 14^th out of 174 runners on the 10K course. With the win, Cummings became the first Mansfield cross country runner to earn all-region honors in each of his first three seasons. Edinboro also took the men’s event, capturing three top ten finishes.

On the women’s side, Mansfield’s top finishers were senior Charity Learn and junior Rachel Hall, who both ran despite injuries. Learn took 18^th place out of 181 runners with a time of 22:43. Hall was .01 second behind Learn and took 21^st place.

The Mountaineers’ other three runners recording points are all freshmen. Clarissa Correll finished the course in 23:11. Following closely behind was Tricia Learn, who recorded a 44^th place finish in a time of 23:24. Heather Wida rounded out the scoring for Mansfield as she finished 73^rd in a time of 24:14.

Also finishing the course for the Mountaineers were junior Robyn Ireland, who finished 83^rd in a time of 24:29, and freshman Natasha Jones, who finished 118^th in a time of 26:23.

The Mansfield University men benefited from solid showings by Cummings and junior Bryan Morseman. Cummings finished 14 with a time of 32:13. Morseman took 29^th place with a time of 33:06.

The Mountaineers also recorded scores from senior Jon Holtz (110^th, 36:27), freshman Matt Zimmerman (116^th, 36:41), and senior Rich Correll (126^th, 37:16).