SEGUIN, Texas -- Senior Jade Zaharoff qualified for the NCAA Women's Cross Country National Championship with her 18th place finish at the South/Southeast Regionals on Saturday. She paced the Christopher Newport University women's team that finished with a fifth place effort at the, wrapping up the event with 179 total points. Senior Jade Zaharoff and sophomore Erin Rolaf finished in the Top 20 individually. The CNU men finished 14th, with 302 total points.
Zaharoff and Rolaf finished just 1.3 seconds apart in the 6K race on Saturday morning, as the senior wrapped up the race in 23:46.6 followed closely by Rolaf at 23:47.9. The pair finished 18th and 19th respectively. Zaharoff will cap her career with an appearance at the national championship.
Karen Bumiller finished 27th with a 24:17.2 finish, while sophomore Jessica McClelland was fourth on the squad at 25:02.1.
Emory won the Regional Championship and Rhodes College collected the other automatic bid to the National Championship on the women's side.
On the men's side, CNU finished 14th paced by a pair of Top 50 performances from Patrick Cunningham and Will Kirk. Cunningham, a sophomore, finished 48th in the 8K race, crossing the finish line in 28:05.1. Just four seconds later, Kirk finished 49th at 28:09.3.
CNU had three more fen finish among the Top 75 racers in a field of over 150. Rookie Samuel Martin (57th - 28:22.6), sophomore Aaron Zook (73rd - 28:39.0) and freshman Bradley Turner (75th - 28:42.9) rounded out the top scores for CNU.
Lynchburg and Centre qualified for the National Championship with the top two spots in the South/Southeast Regional.
Complete Results for CNU
Christopher Newport Points: 179
18. Zaharoff, Jade - 23:46.6
19. Rolaf, Erin - 23:47.9
27. Bumiller, Karen - 24:17.2
54. McClelland, Jessica - 25:02.1
61. Machamer, Julie - 25:18.1
88. House, Brittney - 26:02.2
108. Russell, Sarah - 26:31.0
Christopher Newport Points: 302
48. Cunningham, Patrick - 28:05.1
49. Kirk, Will - 28:09.3
57. Martin, Samuel - 28:22.6
73. Zook, Aaron - 28:39.0
75. Turner, Bradley - 28:42.9
86. Lewin, Donovan - 29:01.6
