CANTON, N.Y. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women's cross country team competed at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship on Saturday, hosted by St. Lawrence University. The women had an excellent showing with a sixth-place team finish to make a strong case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship.

The women ran in cold and muddy conditions on a course already torn up by the men's race, making the priority placement over times. Unlike the men's race the leaders did not take a tactical approach, and several of the top runners tried to break away from the field at the starting gun. Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) placed herself well in a chase pack that had top 4-15 runners, who also quickly separated from the main field. She was able to stay right in that group until the three-mile mark, where some big moves broke up the pack. Nonetheless, she held strong to ninth overall and finish her career as a four-time All-Region runner.

CGA's second-through-fifth runners put forth an excellent display of pack running. Each of them hit the first mile within five seconds of each other with smart positioning and moved up well on the faster and cleaner sections of the course between miles one and two. Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had a huge kick in the final 400 meters to take 34th overall and become the Bears' second All-Region honoree on the day. Lauren Mellon (Falls Church, Va.) was close behind in 36th, just missing the cut for All-Region by one spot. Following was Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.) in 39th and Mary Faltys (Schuyler, Neb.) in 45th. The two-through-five quartet finished within 12 seconds of each other, which ended up being a huge difference maker in team scoring.

Mia Mastrogiovanni (Manahawken, N.J.) and Madeleine Spaner (McLean, Va.) were the sixth and seventh runners for CGA, finishing respectively in 75th and 84th overall.

The women's team now has to wait through Selection Sunday, when the NCAA selection committee publishes the official fields for next weekend's National Championship. The ten team winners from regional meets will all automatically qualify, followed by another 22 teams for at-large spots based on their inter-regional results from the rest of the season.

"The women had a great day today. Claire has been our rock at #1 all season and again led the way today. She's the first runner in at least the last 25 years to earn All-Region honors in all four years at CGA," says head coach Greg Ahnrud. "Our two-through-five ladies all ran great, and our fourth and fifth runners being so far up in the field is what gave us separation from RPI and Wesleyan in seventh and eighth.

"Kevyn finishing as All-Region in her freshman year is a huge accomplishment, and something we've only had two other times in my 14 years at CGA. We can't know what choices the NCAA selection committee is going to make, but we went into the weekend with a top-30 ranking in the coaches poll, beat several teams that have had national rankings over the course of the season, and only lost to teams that are well up the rankings, so this weekend should have strengthened our case for an at-large bid."