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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University will host the 2014 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championships Saturday, Nov. 22 at Cooper's Lake Campground.
 
The best distance runners from the region, which includes all schools in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the Mountain East Conference and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association will travel to Slippery Rock with hopes of earning a spot in the Dec. 6 National Championship in Louisville, Ky.
 
There are a total of 40 women's teams and 37 men's teams in the region that could attend, although the number of schools expected to enter a team is around 25 for each gender.
 
The event will begin with the men's 10,000-meter race at 11 a.m. The women's 6,000-meter race will follow at 12:15 p.m. and an awards ceremony will wrap up the day after the women's results are declared official.
 
The top three teams in each race will earn a trip to the NCAA National Championship, as will the top two individual runners in each race that are not part of one of the three qualifying teams.
 
Slippery Rock's course at Cooper's Lake is one of the finest in the region for its challenging and spectator friendly layout. The course has hosted numerous championship caliber meets, including two previous NCAA Atlantic Regional races, the 2008 NCAA Division II National Championship, numerous PSAC Championships and championship high school races every fall.
 
The course is all grass and features rolling hills throughout both the 6,000-meter and 10,000-meter layouts. Runners should be prepared for all elements this year, as the course has seen at least an inch of snow this week and temperatures in the area have been well below freezing. The temperatures are expected to be above freezing by race day, but snow could still be present in some areas of the course.
 
In addition to the national qualifying spots on the line, individual runners will be competing to earn All-Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The top 25 overall finishers in each race will be honored during the awards ceremony after the men's race.
 
Both races will feature some of the top individuals in the nation and some of the top ranked teams. Below is a breakdown of what to expect from each race.
 

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COVERAGE

The Slippery Rock athletic communication staff, along with Shippensburg sports information director Bill Morgal, will provide live updates during both races on the PSAC Track and Field Twitter handle (@PSACTF). Updates will include in-race updates, results updates, team scores and national championship qualifiers.

The SRU athletic communication office will also post all final results, photo galleries and national qualifiers to the Championship Homepage linked above.
 

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MEN'S 10,000-METER RACE – 11:00 AM
 
Much like the women's race, the PSAC is expected to dominate the men's race. The league owns the top nine places in the latest regional rankings, has three schools ranked in the national top 25 and has a runaway favorite in Lock Haven. Mountain East Conference champion West Virginia Wesleyan ranks 10th in the region, the only non-PSAC school to be mentioned.
 
There is no guessing who the favorite to win the team title is as defending champion Lock Haven is loaded again this year and enters the weekend ranked eighth in the national poll. The Bald Eagles ran away with the PSAC title last week with just 38 points, topping Shippensburg by 20 points. Lock Haven is looking to win its third regional title in the last five years having won it in 2010 and last fall.
 
Shippensburg will be favorites to earn one of the three NCAA spots, as will Edinboro, which finished 28 points behind the Raiders two weeks ago for third at the PSAC meet. Shippensburg ranks 15th in this week's national poll and Edinboro ranks 22nd.
 
If any of those schools slip up, Indiana (Pa.), California (Pa.) and Slippery Rock would be the next three schools expected to move up. They rank 4-6 in the latest regional poll. East Stroudsburg ranks seventh, followed by Kutztown, West Chester and West Virginia Wesleyan.
 
It's much more difficult to predict the outcome of the team and individual races for the men than the women, because this marks the time of year that the men are pressed with the challenge of bumping up to 10,000-meters (roughly 6.2 miles), the same distance run at the national meet. Most teams will be racing that distance for the first time this season as typical race distances are 8,000-meters (roughly 5.0 miles) during the regular season.
 
That said, there will be a prohibitive favorite to win the men's race as California's Aaron Dinzeo is not only one of the best runners in the region, but is making a name for himself as one of the best runners in the nation. The weather and course conditions might be the toughest competition for Dinzeo, who could make a run at the Cooper's Lake course record that was set in 2008 at the National Championship meet by Scott Bauhs (30:23). The top eight times ever run for 10,000-meters on the course came at the 2008 national meet.
 
Behind Dinzeo, expect to see big packs of Lock Haven, Edinboro and Shippensburg runners. The top candidates to move up and threaten Dinzeo for the win would be Brayden Burleigh of Shippensburg, Matt Link of Edinboro, Dylan Mountain of Lock Haven and Elliott Martynkiewic of Edinboro.
 
In addition to those front five, Zach Mains, Vince Fadale and Matt Guiod Lock Haven, Austin McGinley of Shippensburg and Alex Hampel of Indiana will all be gunning for top five positions.
 
At the end of the day, Lock Haven could end up with more than five runners on the All-Region team, as Ben Robinson, Ben Fetterman and Alex Diltz will all be expected to be within striking distance at the front of the race.
 
The top runners from the MEC are West Virginia Wesleyan's Nathan Whitacre and Concord's Stephen Starliper, who will try to break up the big names of the PSAC in search of a top 25 finish. Last season, the MEC landed just one runner in the top 25 as the PSAC took 24 All-Region finishes. The MEC faired slightly better in the top 50 on the men's side than the women, placing five runners among 45 from the PSAC. No runners from the CIAA finished in the top 50 last season.
 
The top candidates for Slippery Rock in search of an All-Region finish will likely be freshman Jeremy Parsons and senior Jaron Martin.
 
TOP MEN'S TEAMS TO WATCH
1. Lock Haven
2. Shippensburg
3. Edinboro
4. Indiana
5. California
6. Slippery Rock 

TOP INDIVIDUAL MEN TO WATCH
1. Aaron Dinzeo, California
2. Brayden Burleigh, Shippensburg
3. Dylan Mountain, Lock Haven
4. Matt Link, Edinboro
5. Elliott Martynkiewic
6. Zach Mains, Lock Haven
7. Vince Fadale, Lock Haven
8. Austin McGinley, Shippensburg
9. Matt Guiod, Lock Haven
10. Alex Hampel, Indiana
11. Abel Robinault, California
12. Ben Robinson, Lock Haven
13. Jacob Fetterman, Lock Haven
14. Raymond Ofman, Indiana
15. Peter Gelston, Shippensburg
16. Kieran Sutton, Shippensburg
17. Cole Nissley, Shippensburg
18. Alex Diltz, Lock Haven
19. Steve Maine, Kutztown
20. Addison Monroe, Lock Haven
21. Jeremy Parsons, Slippery Rock
22. Jon Gusew Edinboro
23. Nathan Whitacre, West Virginia Wesleyan
24. Stephen Starliper, Concord
25. Tim Lynch, Indiana

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WOMEN'S 6,000-METER RACE – 12:15 PM
 
The PSAC is expected to dominate the women's race, as the top seven teams in the most recent USTFCCA regional poll all come from the PSAC. The three teams expected to qualify for the national meet will be Edinboro, Bloomsburg and Shippensburg. Those three hold the top three spots in the regional rankings and finished in that order at the PSAC Championships two weeks ago.
 
Edinboro will be slim favorites to win the regional title for the second year in a row after topping Bloomsburg by 19 points at the PSAC meet. The Fighting Scots are ranked 16th in the national poll this week, while the Huskies are ranked 25th. Those two finished a large margin in front of third place Shippensburg, which was 56 points behind Bloomsburg.
 
Should one of those teams slip up, Lock Haven and Slippery Rock, ranked fourth and fifth, would be the next two in line to steal one of the three places. The Lady Eagles beat Slippery Rock by just five points for fourth at the PSAC meet.
 
The rest of the top 10 in the regional rankings is rounded out by East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, West Virginia Wesleyan, Seton Hill and Mansfield. MEC champion West Virginia Wesleyan is the only team not from the PSAC to crack the top 10 in the regional rankings at No. 8.
 
Individually, the favorite to win the regional title will likely be Bloomsburg's Lauren Lehman, who won the PSAC meet two weeks ago. She could be challenged by East Stroudsburg's Allison Decker, Edinboro's Kasey Jones, her own teammate Kate Dodds or West Chester's Amanda Eisman, the rest of the top five from the PSAC meet. Also expect to see Wheeling Jesuit's Kelsey Chambers, the MEC individual champion, attempt to break up the PSAC front runners. The PSAC placed 24 runners on the All-Region team last year, with just one runner from the MEC and no runners from the CIAA placing in the top 25. The PSAC took up 48 of the top 50 finishing places with the MEC earning two top 50 finishes.
 
East Stroudsburg's Chelsea Conover, Indiana's Rachel Magliane, Edinboro's Anna Hosl, Seton Hill's Meagen Carter and Slippery Rock's Jenny Picot will also be strong contenders for top 10 finishes, as will West Virginia Wesleyan's Ali Cunningham and Rachel Pinto and Wheeling Jesuit's Kaitlyn Workman.
 
Slippery Rock's top candidates for All-Region consideration will be seniors Picot and Janine Powis, who both earned All-PSAC honors with top 20 finishes at the league meet two weeks ago.
 
TOP WOMEN'S TEAMS TO WATCH
1. Edinboro
2. Bloomsburg
3. Shippensburg
4. Lock Haven
5. Slippery Rock 

TOP INDIVIDUAL WOMEN TO WATCH
1. Lauren Lehman, Bloomsburg
2. Allison Decker, East Stroudsburg
3. Kasey Jones, Edinboro
4. Kate Dodds, Bloomsburg
5. Amanda Eisman, West Chester
6. Kelsey Chambers, Wheeling Jesuit
7. Chelsea Conover, East Stroudsburg
8. Rachel Magliane, Indiana
9. Meagen Carter, Seton Hill
10. Jenny Picot, Slippery Rock
11. Ali Cunningham, West Virginia Wesleyan
12. Emily Ahrens, Edinboro
13. Elizabeth Manickas, Shippensburg
14. Julie Friend, California
15. Emma Sullivan, Edinboro
16. Hannah Boudreau, Bloomsburg
17. Megan Maffett, Edinboro
18. Teresa Ortiz, Bloomsburg
19. Corinne Manela, Kutztown
20. Janine Powis, Slippery Rock
21. Kaitlyn Workman, Wheeling Jesuit
22. Destiny Foster, Mansfield
23. Rachel Pinto, West Virginia Wesleyan
24. Corina Robbins, Lock Haven
25. Shannon Cruz, Millersville