Iona competes in NCAA Northeast Regionals

Iona sophomore Egle Morenaite will represent the women’s team in the NCAA Championship on Nov. 17.

Ryan McFadden Sports Editor

After winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship, the Iona College men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Buffalo to compete in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship on Nov. 9 for a chance to participate in the NCAA Championship. Here is a look at what happened.

Men’s team qualifies for 18th straight NCAA Championship appearance

The Gaels registered 88 team points en route to a second place in the Northeast Regionals and earned a spot in the NCAA Championship for the 18th straight season.

Junior Ehab El-Sandali  finished the 10k race in fourth place with a time of 32:45.6. Freshman Jamie Dee came in ninth place with a time of 33:06.5. Dee was the first freshman to cross the finish line.

The Gaels finished behind Syracuse, who has the 12th best cross country team in the nation. The Orange tallied 79 team points to qualify for the NCAA Championship as well. Army West Point came in third place, while Dartmouth placed fourth.

Egle Morenaite to represent women’s team in NCAA Championship

Sophomore Egle Morenaite finished second place individually in the 6k race to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship.

Morenaite crossed the finished at 21:39.9, which was only 11 seconds behind Syracuse’s Shannon Malone. As a team, Iona came in fifth place with 143 points.

Junior Gemma Nuttall finished the 6k race in 15th place with a time of 22:16.2. Sophomore Sophie Murphy came in 25th, while senior Julia Kearley earned a 35th place finish.

Columbia finished in first place with 41 team points, and Dartmouth placed second to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.

Morenaite will join the men’s team in Madison, WI for the NCAA Championship on Nov. 17. The meet will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course at the University of Wisconsin.