Women's Cross Country 11/15/2014 3:25:00 PM

Blue Jays take third at Mideast Regional behind top 10 from Kerno

Results

NEWVILLE, Pa. — While the Elizabethtown College women's cross country team has had multiple runners stand out in 2014, its depth has proven week in and week out to be one of the main strengths of the team. That again was on display at Saturday's NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet held at Big Spring High School. E-town had three runners earn All-Region honors while all five of its scorers were inside the top 40 as the Blue Jays secured another third-place finish with 131 points.

Amanda Kerno picked the right day to run her best 6,000-meter time of the season. She was the first Blue Jay runner to finish, crossing in 22:21.0 to take tenth overall. It was her second straight all-region performance after placing 31st in last year's race.

Much like her teammate, Megan Tursi mirrored Kerno by completing the 6k course in her best time of the season as well. Tursi, who hadn't cracked 23 minutes in a 6k so far this season, ran 22:30.1 to take 16th for her third All-Region honor and second straight.

Lydia Dearie didn't let the pressure of her first Mideast Regional get to her as she ran to an all-region finish. Dearie, a junior, but in her first cross country season, ran 22:56.1 to take 31st overall and become the 19th different female to earn All-Region. Kerno, Tursi, and Dearie were all First Team runners at the Landmark Conference meet two weeks ago.

Amelia Tearnan, the Landmark Conference individual champ, missed out on all-region by one place. She was 36th in 23:09.8. The Landmark Rookie of the Year, Maria Anderson, was five seconds behind Tearnan in 23:14.0, her 6k personal best. All five runners were separated by just 53 seconds.

Casey Quinto took 51st in 23:25.0 and Liz Wedekind was 66th in 23:44.0.

Elizabethtown finished third for the fifth time in program history. The women's team was third in 2005 at Dickinson with three all-region runners, but that team did not qualify for nationals. That should not be the case this year, however. E-town is in a good position to make it back to the NCAA Division III Championships in Mason, Ohio next weekend. The Jays are currently the 17th-ranked women's team in the country. Johns Hopkins won the Mideast Regional for the seventh consecutive year.

The official Division III field will be announced by the NCAA tomorrow at 2 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Amanda Kerno: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Casey Quinto: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Amelia Tearnan: 5' 3"; Senior

Megan Tursi: 5' 7"; Graduate Student

Liz Wedekind: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Lydia Dearie: 5' 3"; Junior

Maria Anderson: 5' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Amanda Kerno
: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Casey Quinto
: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Amelia Tearnan
: 5' 3"; Senior

Megan Tursi
: 5' 7"; Graduate Student

Liz Wedekind
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Lydia Dearie
: 5' 3"; Junior

Maria Anderson
: 5' 3"; Freshman