Nov. 8, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's cross country team will make the trip up to Lehigh's Goodman Campus Course this Saturday for the 2007 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship. Race time is slated for 11 a.m.

The top-two teams in the regional championship earn an automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Championship at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 19. In addition to team entry, the top-four runners not associated with one of the automatically qualified teams will earn a spot in the national championship.

Thirteen additional at-large teams and two individual at-large runners will be selected by the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track & Field Committee on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Navy, who came into the year unranked in the region, has ascended to a tie with fellow Patriot League foe Bucknell as the eighth-best team in the Mid-Atlantic Region by the U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Midshipmen and the Bison tied for the league crown two weeks ago, as both teams finished with a team score of 58 points. After starting the year unranked out of 15 schools in the region, the Mids have ascended to the

In addition to the Bison, the Midshipmen will also face some steep competition against four schools that are ranked among the nation's top-30 teams. In order to make its first trip to the NCAA Championship as a Division I program, Navy will have to go against fourth-ranked Princeton, 14th-ranked West Virginia, 20th-ranked Georgetown and 28th-ranked Penn State.

However, the Midshipmen have enjoyed some success in the last-two regional championships held at the Goodman Campus Course. Navy tied for eighth place during the 2001 regional before landing 10th four year later. At last year's championship, the Mids finished 11th out of 32 teams in Lock Haven, Pa.

For Navy to have the success it has enjoyed during the 2007 campaign on Saturday, it will rely upon its tight packing between the first and fifth-fastest runners. In all seven races this year, the Midshipmen have not finished more than a minute off between their top-five runners, including three under-30 second spreads. Two weeks ago at the league championship, only 23.4 seconds separated Navy's first and fifth-best clockings.

Leading the way in each of the past-two races is sophomore runner Amy Watson (Hampstead, Md.). In both of the most important races of the year, the Star Meet at Army and the Patriot League Championship, Watson has delivered Navy's top performance. She won the Star Meet at Army and followed that effort with First-Team All-Patriot League honors with her fifth-place showing at the league championship.

The trio of Midshipmen runners Kyleigh Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.), Arwyn Becker (Vail, Colo.) and Lexa Gass (Crescent, Pa.) each earned Second-Team All-Patriot League distinction by finishing among the top-14 runners at the league championship. Millhouse and Becker have scored in every race they have participated in this fall, while Gass has tallied points during her last-three races.

Since elevating to the Division I ranks in 1991, Navy has sent an individual to the NCAA Championship on four occasions. Melissa Foon was the last Navy runner to advance to the national championship in 2000, where she placed 75th overall.