BUFFALO, N.Y. – Stony Brook’s Hayley Green (Wellington, New Zealand), the 2011 America East Cross Country women’s champion, booked her spot in the NCAA Championship field with her fourth-place finish at the Northeast Regional on Saturday.
Green ran the 6K course in 20:42.5 to qualify as an individual and it is her second straight top-10 finish at the Regional race. Green joins Maine’s Corey Conner as the only America East women to qualify for nationals since 2009. Conner qualified in both 2009 and 2010. Green's feat also marks the seventh time since 2006 the America East has had individuals qualify for nationals.
Binghamton’s Eric van Ingen qualified for nationals in 2009 and 2010, representing the first America East male harrier to accomplish that feat since Boston University's Jochen Dieckfoss did so in 2003.
Thirty-eight individual national qualifiers were selected to participate in the national championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual qualifiers finished in the top 25 in their region.
The Seawolves finished ninth as a team on Saturday to pace America East women squads. New Hampshire finished 12th as a team, Vermont in 13th and Boston University in 15th. Albany collected an 18th-place finish as a team and Binghamton finished 22nd. Hartford did not score in the Northeast Regional. UMBC ran in the Mid-Atlantic Regional and finished 25th.
All-Region performers from the America East include Boston University’s Rosa Moriella (Naugatuck, Conn.), who finished 18th, Vermont’s Morgan Powers (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 21st, Stony Brook’s Patricia Barry (Tipperary, Ireland) crossed the finish line in 23rd and New Hampshire’s Keely Maguire (Georgetown, Mass.) in 24th.
Boston University was the top America East team in Buffalo collecting 292 points for ninth place. America East champion Albany finished 18th. Team finishes 21-24 were all America East squads. New Hampshire led that pack, followed by Binghamton, Vermont and Stony Brook. Maine and Hartford did not score in the Northeast Regional and UMBC did not score at the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Several men also earned All-Region status for their performances in Buffalo. Albany’s Chris Burke (Tully, N.Y.), who finished second at the America East championship, finished 24th and Stony Brook’s Eric Speakman (Napier, New Zealand), who finished right behind Burke at the conference championship, finished 25th.
Athletes that finished in the top-25 of their respective region earned All-Region status.
The NCAA Championship will be held on Nov. 21 on the campus of Indiana State University.