Final Results // Videos: Women's Highlights / Men's Highlights / Women's Finish / Men's Finish

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Guided by three All-Region performers, including an 18th place effort by Jessica McClelland, the Christopher Newport cross country teams had a solid day at Lee Hall Mansion during the NCAA Regional Championships as the men placed fourth and the women came in eighth during the title meet on Saturday afternoon.

McClelland shined on Saturday as she recorded a top-20 effort during the 6k competition while setting a new personal-best with a time of 23:06.88. Aaron Zook and JJ LaPointe also collected All-Region accolades on the men's side after posting a pair of top-30 performances.

Overall, the men notched a score of 175. Bridgewater claimed the championship with 74 points, while Emory and Centre rounded out the top-three. The women came in eighth with a score of 254. Trinity took the title with 36 points, while Emory, Bridgewater, Centre, and Rhodes comprised the remainder of the top-five.

In her last home cross country meet, McClelland was simply sensational. Her time of 23:06.88 officially places her eighth on the program's all-time 6k list and certainly stands as one of CNU's top efforts in the Regionals over the last decade.

"Jess ran phenomenal," said head coach Matthew Barreau. "It's very rewarding to watch anyone succeed, but to watch someone that you've worked with for the past three years while seeing noticeable jumps in performance, it's especially rewarding. Our region has been getting significantly better each year, so this is definitely one of the best regional performances by a CNU runner in the last several years. It's also one of the best races I've seen her run. It gives reassurance to the rest of the team that, if we do things the right way and execute our plan, we can succeed."

Along with their senior leader, the Captains received solid contributions from their young speedsters. Freshman Emmie Schmitt was second on the team and 40th overall after finishing in 23:55.01. Alexa Tabackman was only 13 seconds back in 49th, while Logan Harrington and Lydia Cromwell also finished in the top-75 and posted sub-25 times.

"Overall, our women had a bit of a tough day," said Barreau. "It wasn't what we're capable of, and that's what makes it frustrating. Eighth place is not what we wanted or where we wanted to end up. It's tough to end the year on this kind of note, because it leaves a little sour taste in our mouths. But we know what we've accomplished and the progress we've made. We are very proud of that. And, again, watching Jess do so well is something we can really take from this meet."

The men saw five runners place in the top-50, including the two All-Region honorees. Zook led the team and was 25th overall with a time of 26:02.91 over the 8k course, while LaPointe was just seven seconds back in 28th.

"We haven't had two All-Region men in the same race in a handful of years, and we almost had four today," said Barreau. "Zook ran really well throughout the race. He got caught up a little behind our top-three at the beginning, but he steadily moved his way up. When he caught up with Sam and JJ, he helped pull JJ through the rest of race. He really stepped up. Overall, it was a great job by Zook and JJ, and I'm definitely proud of both of them."

Along with the two regional honorees, Andrew Benfer and Samuel Martin just missed out on top-30 efforts. Benfer was the fourth freshman to cross the line after completing the meet in 26:22.78. Martin was just a second behind in 38th, while Billy Rabil also nabbed a top-50 performance after placing 48th in 26:36.36.

"Four of the seven guys had a PR, and two of them were within two seconds of that," said Barreau. "As a group, they ran pretty well. We didn't have a great day, and that's what it was going to take. Bridgewater, Emory, and Centre all did what they had to do. We've been a tight pack all year, and we did that again today. We had five guys within 30 seconds of one another. We definitely had the tightest pack. Again, it wasn't our best race, but those are definitely some of the positives that we can take from today."

Although the Captains missed out on qualifying as a team for the NCAA Championships, there remains a great deal to be proud of in 2013. Both the men's and women's programs continue to make great strides towards regional and national success.

"We made good progress this year," said Barreau. "This group isn't the type of group that's going to settle, or get complacent, or be happy where we're at. When you're trying to be the best you can possibly be at something, it's a never-ending improvement process. We're happy with our progress, but we're going to try to continuously improve. Tomorrow is another day, and we're going to try to make ourselves better than we were today."

---CNU---