Cross Country finishes season strong at NCAA Regionals

            The Georgia State Cross Country teams finished their season at the NCAA South Regional meet in Tuscaloosa, Ala. with the women placing 14^th out of 27 teams while the men placed 15^th out of 24 teams.

            "On the starting line, our teams were placed right next to the FSU teams," head coach Chris England told Athletics. "We are a competitive team even against some of the best in the country."

             Competitors for this event included Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Mississippi, Vanderbilt, and Middle Tennessee State. In this event, five Seniors including Chris Harper, Kacee Houle, Zanny Anderson, Andrea Rodriguez and Danyel Mitchell competed for their final cross country meet.

           Head coach Chris England had a lot to say about his Seniors.

            "That just goes to show the depth of our team that anyone can step up on race day," England told  Athletics. "But I also want to commend all of our seniors. They've done an amazing job leading the team and they will leave some big shoes to fill next year."

            On the women's side, the top runners for this event were freshmen Hannah Stefanoff with a time of 22:00, placing her for 48^th, Sarah McCarthy with a time of 22:14, placing her for 64^th, Niamh Kearney with a time of 22:51, placing her for 93^rd and junior Alison Bishop with a time of 23:00.

             On the men's side, the top runners were sophomores Valentin Poncelet with a time of 31:50 placing him for 24^th place, Tyler Tomy with a time of 32:59 placing him for 47^th place, senior Chris Harper with a time of 33:18 placing him for 65^th place and freshman Austin Boetje with a time of 34:48.

          Poncelet became the 20th runner in program history to earn All-Regional honors by finishing in the top 25. He placed 10th at the Division II NCAA Regional just last year at American International College.

          Last year in 2010, the men only traveled with four runners and the women placed 19^th overall. 

        "This was a great end to a great season," England told Athletics. "Both teams ran strong and were excited for the race. The pressure was off because they knew we've had a good season regardless of how they finished."