[Pcalumnixctrack] Providence Women’s Cross Country Ready For NCAA Cross Country Championships

[Sullivan, Brendan T]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 17, 2017

Contact- Brendan Sullivan (401) 865-1245



Providence Women’s Cross Country Ready For NCAA Cross Country Championships

The Friars will race on Saturday, Nov. 18 in Louisville, Ky.



Live Stats<http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/track-field/results/d1/xc17/index.html> | Flotrack Live Stream ($)<https://www.flotrack.org/live/3138-di-ncaa-xc-championships/signup?next=http://live.flotrack.org/#/event/3138-di-ncaa-xc-championships&utm_source=ncaa.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=website&utm_campaign=2017ncaad1xcchamp&rtid=4180&coverage_id>



PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College women’s cross country team is set to race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 18. The race is will take place at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. at 9:00 a.m.



HOW TO FOLLOW:

The NCAA Cross Country Championships will provide live splits and will be live streamed by Flotrack. A Flotrack Pro account is necessary in order to stream the race.



Be sure to follow @FriarsXCTrack<https://twitter.com/FriarsXCTrack> on Twitter to get live updates.



RACE PREVIEW:

The Friars are the No. 9-ranked team in the nation heading into the NCAA Championships. Providence has found great success when Louisville hosts the NCAA Championships. In 2012, the Friar women finished second overall and in 2015 they took home fourth place.



Providence’s strength lies in the talent of the team’s top four athletes, graduate student Catarina Rocha (Peabody, Mass.), senior Brianna Ilarda (Perth, Australia), senior Millie Paladino (Morgantown, W. Va.) and sophomore Abbey Wheeler (Elmira, N.Y.).



Rocha has been the top Friar in three different races this season. She finished fourth at the Battle-in-Beantown Invitational, won the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships and finished fourth at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. Rocha has twice earned All-America honors in cross country, having finished 33rd in 2014 and 39th in 2015.



Ilarda has consistently been the Friars’ number two runner all season but has the talent to lead Providence on the day. Ilarda finished fifth at the Battle-in-Beantown, 21st at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, second at the BIG EAST Championships and sixth at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. Ilarda has improved upon her place at each NCAA Championships, with her best finish coming last season, when she finished 68th.



Paladino has continued to improve all season long. She led Providence at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, with a 17th place finish. Paladino also finished fourth at the BIG EAST Championships and 11th at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. Paladino has twice been a top-100 finisher at the NCAA Championships. In 2015, she finished 77th and in 2016 she led Providence with a 55th place finish.



Wheeler will look to continue her solid performances at the NCAA Championships. This season, Wheeler’s best performances have been a sixth place finish at the Battle-in-Beantown, a 10th place finish at the BIG EAST Championships and a 15th place finish at the Northeast Regional Championships. As a freshman in 2016, Wheeler finished 148th at the NCAA Championships.



Senior Mackenzie Barry (Mendham, N.J.), freshman Maria Coffin (Annapolis, Md.) and sophomore Alexandra DeCicco (Holtsville, NY.) round out the seven runners who will be competing for Providence.



This will be Barry’s third time racing at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, while it will be both Coffin and DeCicco’s first time racing. Barry and Coffin have switched positions as the fifth and sixth runners all season.  At the Northeast Championships, Barry finished 48th overall to seal Providence’s team win.



-GO FRIARS!-







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