Women's Cross Country Set For NCAA Regionals
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – West Chester's women's cross country squad is ready for the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championships held at Slippery Rock University on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 11:45 a.m. "We have a very young team," first-year head coach Ryan Comstock said. "Five of our top seven are either freshmen or sophomores. I believe the improvements we have seen so far are just the first steps in a significant shift in the success of our women's program." A freshman that hit the ground running and has truly made an impact this season for the Golden Rams is Diana Dunn (Media, Pa./Penncrest). She most recently placed 15th overall with a time of 23 minutes, 22.1 seconds at the 2016 PSAC Championships. Dunn has been impressive in her freshman campaign. Earlier in the season at the Division II/III Challenge, Dunn provided the second-best freshman time by a PSAC runner, crossing the line in 24 minutes, 4.6 seconds. It was also the fastest time on this course by a West Chester runner in 12 years. "It is a reasonable goal to crack into the top 10 this weekend, which would be a huge jump from the 16th-place finish last season," Comstock said. Dunn is considered to be one of the women's top individual contenders in the 6k event, ranking in the Top 15. Additionally, she has the potential to achieve all-region for the Golden Rams. Comstock's last remark mentioned how he was impressed with the improvements from the entire team in such a limited amount of time. Other Golden Rams to keep an eye on include: sophomore Amanda Kodis (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley), junior Julia Del Grosso (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), and freshman Tara McLaughlin (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn). Earlier this season at the Mack Cooper Invitational, the team placed fifth with improving times coming in from all over the field. Kodis earned 17th individually in 24:30, which is almost 90 seconds faster than her time from 2015. Del Grosso ran 1:46 faster than last year, posting a time of 25:02 and finished 24th. Teammate McLaughlin was 33rd overall in 25:37. This women's cross country squad is a young and energetic bunch with a bright future ahead of them. For live updates this Saturday, follow @PSACtf on Twitter for all the up to date information.
