CONTOOCOOK, N.H. – The Yale men's cross country team took fifth place (170 points) at the NCAA Cross Country Northeast Regional Championships Friday afternoon at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds. Senior
Owen Karas was Yale's top individual finisher, placing 11th and positioning himself to advance to the NCAA Championships individually. Senior
Kenan Pala finished right behind him in 12th and could advance as well.
The Bulldogs matched last year's fifth-place finish at Regionals, giving the team its first back-to-back top five finishes at Regionals since 2003 (fourth) and 2004 (fifth).
Syracuse (32 points) won the meet. Iona (95 points) finished second to claim the region's other automatic berth in the NCAA Championships.
Hofstra's Fredrick Kipkosgei finished first individually (29:12.7).
With Syracuse and Iona definitely advancing to the Championships, Karas is currently fifth among individuals on non-advancing teams from the region and Pala is sixth. The top four regional finishers not on an advancing team earn individual spots at the NCAA Championships. There are still two at-large individual berths, and should any additional teams from the Northeast region be selected as at-large teams, more individual spots would open up. For example, should Harvard (third at Regionals, currently ranked No. 22 in the nation) receive an at-large berth in the championships as a team, Karas would move up to third and Pala to fourth among individuals on non-advancing teams.
The Bulldogs:
- Senior Owen Karas led the Bulldogs home with an 11th place finish (29:27.2). That marked a significant improvement on his finish at Regionals last year (22nd). He will receive All-Region recognition again for finishing in the top 25. The USTFCCCA will announce the awards formally next week.
- Senior Kenan Pala (12th, 29:31.1) was Yale's second finisher. He will also receive All-Region recognition again, having finished 25th at Regionals last year. This marked the eighth time in his last nine races that Pala has finished among the Bulldogs' top three.
- Junior Daegan Cutter (41st, 30:24.2) was Yale's third finisher. He has been Yale's No. 3 finisher in four straight races. He improved dramatically on his 77th place finish from last year at Regionals.
- Sophomore Lucas Cohen (47th, 30:31.6) was Yale's fourth finisher, marking the first time this season he has finished in the Bulldogs' top four.
- Senior Braden King (57th, 30:40.6), Yale's captain, finished fifth for the Bulldogs. He was among Yale's top five in every race this year.
- First-year Magnus Manley (59th, 30:42.0) was Yale's sixth finisher. He has cracked Yale's top seven in each of the last three races.
- Senior Alex Mader (114th, 31:22.5) was Yale's seventh finisher.
Up Next:
- NCAA Championships selections will be announced by 5:00 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 15 on ncaa.com.
- The NCAA Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships provide for a maximum of 32 five-to-seven-person teams and 38 individuals per gender.
- Eighteen teams automatically qualify for the championships races by finishing as one of the top two teams at any of the nine regional races.
- The remaining 14 at-large teams are selected by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee.
- Thirty-six individuals automatically qualify for the championships races by being one of the top four regional finishers not on an advancing team.
- Two additional individuals are selected at-large by the committee.
