The Seton Hall men's and women's cross country teams had successful performances Friday at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region- al where they competed against some of the highest-rated cross country teams in the nation.
The men's squad had five underclassmen record a scoring time. They were led by sophomore Ryan Flannery.
The Pirates finished 25th.
Just two weeks after recording his career best 8K time at the Big East Championship, Flannery broke his previous best 10K re- cord, clocking a time of 33:23. Flannery has now set new personal records for himself at the 6K, 8K and 10K distances this season, and he has only finished outside of the Pirates top two on one occasion.
The only men's Pirate runner who has ranked as the top performer on the team more times than Flannery is freshman Victor Ricci.
Ricci came in second on the team at the regional, completing the course in 33:33. This extends Ricci's scoring streak to eight meets in a row, which is tied for the team lead.
"He is the type of kid that I think in the future is going to be something to be reckoned with," Pirates' head coach John Moon said. "He is in the top six freshmen of all the freshmen in the Big East and that's a big accomplishment."
Freshman Cameron Quisenberry has also scored in the first eight meets for the Pirates.
In his first trip to Regionals this Friday, he recorded a time of 34:27 to finish third among all Pirates.
Sean Kip also scored for the Pirates, clocking in at 34:36 to take fourth for the Pirates.
Alex Mallue scored for the second meet in a row and the third time this season. Mallue clocked in at 34:54, which earned him the fifth best time of the day for the Pirates. Mallue is one of four freshmen who have scored for Seton Hall this season, as the fresh- men class continues to impact on the team's improved results.
"My top five men were four freshmen and one sophomore," Moon said. "Being that young, and my team being all freshmen just about, running that well looks very good for the future. I'm very excited."
Villanova dominated the meet as they swept both the team and individual titles and posted a collective score of 34.
The Pirate women had three runners, senior Nyala Eddings, freshman Desyre Blackburn and junior Mary Migton, all set personal records at the 6K distance at the meet.
Just one meet after setting a personal record at the Big East Championship, Eddings broke it at the 6K, finishing with a time of 22:19 which was nearly 40 seconds faster than her previous mark. Migton clocked in one second later, surpassing her personal best of 22:32.90 by more than 12 seconds.
Blackburn broke the 24-minute mark for the first time in three 6K appearances, recording a time of 23:50.
As a team, Seton Hall placed 27th overall, led by Eddings who was the fastest Pirate for the ninth consecutive meet.
Sophomore Amanda Quaglia scored for the second straight meet and has now ranked among the squad's top five in the last two races after returning from injuries that slowed her down in the beginning of the season.
Villanova also dominated for the women at the regional, as Emily Lipari took the individual crown. The Wildcats also took home the team title.
"It's motivation, it's the attitude, and the toughness of the athletes," Moon said. "The main ingredient is that they were hungry -- they wanted it, they ran."
The men's and women's cross country teams will head to the Bronx and Van Cortlandt Park Saturday to compete in the ECAC Championship race for their 2013 season finale. The action is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.
Courtney Hnasko can be reached at courtney.hnasko@stu- dent.shu.edu.
