2024 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships

Saturday, November 16, 2024 • Waterford, Conn. • Harkness Memorial State Park

Women's 6k Race: 11:00 a.m. • Men's 8k Race: 12:00 p.m.

Live Results | Championship Central

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's cross country team will look to continue its season-long string of success at the 2024 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships, hosted by Connecticut College at Harkness Memorial State Park on Saturday afternoon.
 
Last season, the Union men posted their best regional result in 40 years with an eighth-place finish, the program's highest finish since placing sixth out of 24 squads in 1984. Individually, Ryan Russell ran a then-lifetime best 25:14.6, which placed him 31st out of 174 runners and earned him the program's third USTFCCCA All-Region honor. Last time out, Union placed fifth out of nine teams at the Liberty League Championships on November 2 in Canton, N.Y.
 
As a team, Union has been a consistent presence in the USTFCCCA Mideast Regional rankings this season, having been ranked in every poll of 2024. The team enters the weekend ranked ninth in the region and has reached as high as eighth this year.
 
Russell has had an excellent season on the course for Union as a senior, twice breaking the school 8K record and earning three top-two finishes, including wins at the Vassar Season Starter and the Wesleyan University Invitational. The current school record was broken on this same Harkness Park course in October, when he placed 15th out of 269 runners at the nationally competitive Connecticut College Invitational. He became the program's first All-League first-team honoree by placing fifth at the Liberty League Championships and has recorded four of the top-five 8K times in program history this season, including the top-three. In total, he enters the week with six entries in the program's top-10 and also ran the best 6K in program history earlier this season at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational.
 
Classmate Ben Neff has been a consistent presence near the top of the leaderboard for Union all season, posting top-two team finishes in every race. He earned All-Liberty League second-team honors earlier this month with an 11th-place finish at the conference meet, finishing in a season-best 25:25.1. The senior has bettered his time in all four 8K races this year and looks to keep the improvement going at regionals.
 
Junior Will Plante had his best run of the year at Liberty Leagues, placing third on the team with a time of 26:40.5 and will look to maintain that pace this week. Sophomore Bretton Garrick has also been a fixture in the top-four for Union this season and will hope to improve on his season-best time of 26:50.5 set at Wesleyan.

After earning his first USTFCCCA All-Region recognition last season, Russell will look to repeat the feat and become the second Union runner to receive multiple All-Region honors. Runners must place in the top-35 at one of the 10 NCAA Regional Championship sites to receive All-Region laurels. Last year Neff came one place and three seconds short of All-Region honors, finishing in 36th position.