2024 Cross-Country Conference Round-up

by Perri Williams

As the Athletics Ireland provincial cross-country championships were being held last weekend, so too were the first stage of the all important American Collegiate Championship stage – known as the Conferences. Taking part were many of our Irish athletes, who all too often do not get much of a mention for their endeavours back home, during the season.
Firstly a little bit about the American season, with specific focus on Division I where the majority of the Irish athletes fit. The regular cross-country season usually begins late August and goes right up to late October. Many of the Irish athletes having already competed in various races such as Nuttycombe. The Conference championships kick off the championship season and are followed by the regionals and national championships. 

Teams who wish to progress to the latter stages of the championships must compete in the Conference. A top two placing will boost the colleges confidence. Bottom of the field the college might decide to end its championship season early and shift focus to building the athletes further or preparing for the indoor season. The next stage is the Regionals.
The regionals are an important event within the championship’s selection process. To ensure advancement to the nationals (NCAA) the college team must have finished in the top two teams in each region. There are nine regions so that means eighteen teams will automatically qualify for the NCAA which is being held this year in Wisconsin on November 23rd. (Division II is being held in Sacramento, California on the same day). In addition to the top two teams in each of the nine regions, there are thirteen at large teams selected. At-large teams’ selections are based firstly on their performance at regionals. Thus, it is the third and fourth placed teams from the regionals that are best positioned to make the at-large selection. 
As far as individual qualification goes, there are thirty-eight individuals who are selected through both the automatic qualification and the at-large selection process. From the regionals it is the top four who gain an automatic qualification. However, these four must not have qualified from either a team or an at-large section. The only cap on individual selection is that all four finishers have to finish in the top 25 within their region. There are two at-large individuals selected, making up the total of 38 individuals. The two at-large selections are the highest placing individuals at a regional that were not automatic qualifiers.

Now with the explanation out of the way, let’s get to the weekend’s results. In the MAAC Conference which was held at Twin Ponds on the Farm in Montgomery, New York saw Iona University field a men’s and ladies’ team. The Iona ladies team finished second with Claragh Keane 12th and Muireann Duffy 15th. The men’s team were took the gold with Iona occupying the top six places. The final scorer on the team was Tadgh Donnelly who finished 5th. Also competing for Iona was Scott Fagan who was 10th. 
In Virginia, the Atlantic 10 Conference took place with Loyola’s Roisin Treacy in action. Roisin finished 7th overall with her Lyola team in 1st place.
The Big East is traditionally where most of the Irish athletes will take part, most usually with Providence or Villanova – both teams coached by former Irish internationals Ray Treacy and Marcus O’Sullivan. This year’s Big East was held in Leesburg, Virginia were the Providence ladies finished 2nd team and the men were 4th, with Villanova claiming the gold in the men’s team. For the providence ladies Laura Mooney was 10th, Cara Laverty 20th and Anna Gardiner 27th. 
In the men’s race there were six Irish athletes taking part with Michael Morgan (Providence) being the top performer in 7th place. Behind him the Providence freshman Cormac Dixon has another good performance in 16th with Sean Donohue (Villanova) finishing 21st. Then came Jack Fenlon (Villanova) in 30th, Shane Coffey (Providence) 38th and Liam McCay (Providence 39th.
In Waco, Texas the University of Colorado competed in the Big 12 Conference Championships. Dean Casey finished 16th individual and his team were 5th. BYU and Oklahoma State would be the two big contenders at this Conference, enabling Dean to get some good measurements as to where his fitness lies ahead of the Regionals and hopefully the NCAA’s. 
Moving to the West Coast Conference were Meabh Richardson competed for Portland University. Meabh performed well to finish 9th in a competitive field with Portland taking second team. Her Kilkenny City Harrier clubmate Shay McEvoy was back in action after a long season of sustained injuries. McEvoy competed for Tulsa University in the American Athletic Conference taking an eleventh individual spot and helping his team to second place. The Big Ten is a very competitive conference with Ireland’s Anika Thompson and Sophie O’Sullivan in action. Competing for the University of Oregon Thompson finished 12th with Washington’s O’Sullivan 18th. It was Oregon who emerged as the team winners with Washington the runner’s up.
Competing for Adams State at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in Las Vegas, New Mexico was Tullamore’s Ava O’Connor. O’Connor had a terrific victory leading her Adam’s State team to their 35th Conference win. Ava will now compete this Saturday in the South Central Region in Denver, Colorado.