Men's Cross Country Finish Program-Best Fifth in Region

Jack Baronski, Michael McCann qualify to NCAA Championships

Lock Haven, Pa. — Marywood University men's cross country finished a program-best fifth place at the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Region Championships on Saturday at Lock Haven University. The Pacers finished with 156 points with an 8K average time of 26:13.

Sophomore Jack Baronski and possibly freshman Michael McCann qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships with their performances. The two would compete next weekend in East Lansing, Mich., becoming only the second and third Marywood men's cross country runners to compete at nationals.

Baronski finished seventh place in the regional with a time of 25:23.8. He tied David Haines for the best finish by a Marywood runner at a regional championship. Baronski used a lethal kick to move up three spots over the last 400 meters of the race to secure a trip to nationals. He set a personal record with the fifth fastest time in school history.

Two weeks after becoming the Atlantic East Champion, McCann was shortly behind in 14th overall in a time of 25:35.8. His performance was the ninth fastest time in school history, and he was the second-fastest freshman in the race. If Johns Hopkins University earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, McCann will compete at the national race.

Freshman Bryce Ryder ran an outstanding race to finish 30th place overall. He did this by running a nearly 20-second PR with a time of 26:21. This is the 19th fastest time in school history and makes Ryder the fifth fastest Pacer of all-time.

Baronski, McCann and Ryder were all named to the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic All-Region Team.

Rounding out the Top 5 for the Pacers were Thomas Lee. He came up huge by finishing 50th place and running the 35th fastest time in school history of 26:51.8.

Not far behind, Joseph Cardillo crossed the finish with a time of 26:56.4. His run netted him a 55th place finish and a time that is good enough for 40th best in the Marywood record books.

Ian Kovatch was the Pacers' sixth man in 71st place, running a PR of 27:21. Josh Godlewski finished in 155th as Marywood's seventh runner on this historic day with a 29:25.4 performance.

Marywood's top six runners all ran in the top 71 of the race which puts them all in the top 13 regional places in school history.

Marywood went from being unranked regionally to start the year to finishing fifth. In the process, the Pacers took eight spots off their previous best regional finish of 13th in 2021. The NCAA expanded from eight to 10 regions last season. Marywood put together another outstanding team effort placing five runners in the top 60.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Jack Baronski: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Josh Godlewski: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Ian Kovatch: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Thomas Lee: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Michael McCann: 5' 8"; Freshman

Bryce Ryder: 6' 0"; Freshman

Joseph Cardillo: 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jack Baronski
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Josh Godlewski
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Ian Kovatch
: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Thomas Lee
: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Michael McCann
: 5' 8"; Freshman

Bryce Ryder
: 6' 0"; Freshman

Joseph Cardillo
: 5' 8"; Freshman