Mindy Sawtelle Earns Trip to Cross Country Nationals; Nicole Blaesser Also on All-Region Team

Complete Women's Results

Complete Men's Results

IUP sophomore Mindy Sawtelle earned her second trip to the NCAA Division II cross country national championship meet in as many years, taking the runner-up spot at the East Region meet held Saturday at Mack Park.

Sawtelle posted a time of 20:43 in the 6K race to finish behind only Julie Nemergut of Edinboro by a margin of 14 seconds.  Sawtelle also qualified for nationals a year ago and finished second, the highest ever ranking by a woman from the East Region.

The national meet will be held November 20 in Evansville, Ind.

Nicole Blaesser joined Sawtelle on the all-region team, finishing 15^th with a time of 22:18.  The IUP women placed fifth with a team score of 159 points, trailing only Edinboro (30), Kutztown (112), Slippery Rock (135) and Bloomsburg (146).  Edinboro won the region crown for the sixth time in the past seven years.

The Edinboro and Kutztown teams advance to nationals as the top two finishers.  Along with Sawtelle, individuals representing the East Region are Charity Learn of Mansfield and Vanessa Andes of East Stroudsburg.

Following Sawtelle and Blaesser as scorers for the IUP women were Katie Farnsworth (37^th, 23:16), Charlene Wirfel (49^th, 23:36) and Erica Hoffman (56^th, 23:58).

The IUP men finished tenth with 238 points.  Lock Haven won the region crown for the second straight year with 36 points and will be joined at nationals by Edinboro, who totaled 56 points.  Edinboro’s Ryan Coon crossed first in the men’s 10K race with a time of 31:41.

Eric Kruttschnitt led the IUP men, finishing 23^rd with a time of 33:28.  Mark Prezioso was 37^th (34:08), followed by Jorge Medina (45^th, 34:27), Bill Moss (66^th, 35:19) and Matt Gaudet (67^th, 35:20).