CENTER VALLEY, Pa - The Haverford College women's cross country team had perhaps its strongest performance of the 2022 season at the NCAA Metro Region Championships on Saturday, racing to a 12th place finish in a spirited postseason race at DeSales University.
The Fords were buoyed by a fifth-place finish from sophomore Katie Hirsche, who finished in 23:18, earning automatic qualification as an individual to the NCAA Championships next weekend by virtue of a top-seven finish among those athletes not on the regional champions, Widener.
Hirsche finished seventh in the Centennial Conference Championships two weeks ago, and was immediately at the top of the pack for the duration of the regional race, as she was third at the first split before clearing the eventual qualifying mark by 20 seconds.
Hirsche, who will earn All-Region from the USTFCCCA by virtue of the performance, is Haverford's first individual qualifier to the national meet since Hannah Doll in the 2018 season. The Washington, D.C. product will look to give Haverford an All-American for the second straight season, as Izzy Miller and Angie Petrichenko each earned that honor in last season's championship in Louisville, Kentucky as the Fords qualified as a team by virtue of the 2021 regional title.
Krysta Nichols, the only runner making a repeat appearance at the regional meet, was the second Haverford runner to cross in 73rd overall, toeing the line in 26:12. Just behind Nichols was Dominique Monroy, who finished in 26:23 for 76th overall, while Audrey Carter crossed in 105th (28:20) and senior Annemarie Wood concluded her cross country career with a strong 28:20 finish for 106th. Jessie Hausman crossed in 28:51 for 115th, while Sophia Furman finished 117th in 28:55 to round out the Haverford contingent.
Hirsche will now compete at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, November 19 at the Forest Akers Golf Course on the campus of Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich. The women's race is slated to begin at 11 a.m. The official list of individual and team qualifiers is expected to be announced via an NCAA.com press release tomorrow.