Cross Country To Compete At NCAA Division III Regionals

AURORA, N.Y. – The Wells College men's and women's cross country squad will compete at the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championship this Saturday, Nov. 14 at Letchworth State Park in Mount Morris, N.Y.

For the first time in school history, Wells will field complete teams (five or more runners) on both the men's and women's team at the event. Additionally, the Express will be the only team from the North Eastern Athletic Conference to start at least five men's and women's runners at the regional meet.

The Wells women will compete in the 11 a.m. 6K race while the Express men will start their 8K at 12:30 p.m. The official NCAA Atlantic Cross Country Regional website, containing the participant manual, final meet entries, starting box assignments and directions, can be found here.

Individual runners from Wells made their first appearances at the NCAA Regionals in 2011, but for only the second time since the women's cross country program debuted in 2006, a team from Wells will qualify with a score at the event. The men's program will compete as a five-member team for the first time in 2015.

The women's cross country team will send a team-record seven runners to compete, including junior Deaven Theriault (Ludlow, Mass.), junior Bailey Brown (Marcy, N.Y.), sophomore Katelyn Costello (Nunda, N.Y.) and Shiori Hirayama (Hiroshima, Japan). Freshmen Elena Bushy (Wilmington, N.Y.), Amanda Fastiggi (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) and Rosalety Galea (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will round out the field for the Express.

Theriault will make her third career appearance at NCAA Regionals, tying Emily Middlebrook '14 and Katie Lamanna '15 for the most appearances at the event in team history. Posting times of 25:14.8 and 24:37.7 in her last two appearances, Theriault will provide leadership for the Express as six newcomers from Wells will compete at the regional meet.

Senior Stephen Armstrong (Erin, N.Y.), a three-time participant at the NCAA Regionals, will lead the Wells men's team into the regionals and will be joined by junior Ky'aire Reed (Trenton, N.J.) and freshmen Ross Cobb (South Burlington, N.Y.), Antonio D'Arpino (Auburn, N.Y.), Bradlee Sherman (Cortland, N.Y.) and John Tolley (Pittsford, N.Y.).

Armstrong turned in a time of 29:17.8 at the 2012 Atlantic Regionals and will look to eclipse that time on Saturday. The remaining five representatives from Wells have not competed at the regional meet in their careers.