Women's Cross Country | 11/13/2021 3:01:00 PM

GENESEO, N.Y. – Riley Corey is officially headed to the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship! The junior placed fourth overall in Saturday's wet Niagara Regional 6,000-meter race held at the National Warplane Museum to lead the St. John Fisher College women's cross country squad to a fifth-place team finish.
 
Corey battled to keep pace with a handful of SUNY Geneseo runners throughout the race's 6,000 meters, as she fluctuated amongst the top six competitors, but made a push between the 4,000- and 5,000-meter marks to move into fourth place, where she remained until the finish line. The Waterloo native finished in 23:08.0 and paced a 6:13 mile to carry her to the National Championship race as an individual – the best-ever finish by a Cardinals' runner at a regional final.
 
Senior Morgan Gould finished in 27th place overall, followed by sophomore Lauren DeMichele who placed 40th. The pair finished within 25 seconds of one another, as Gould finished in 24:22.9 and DeMichele crossed the finish line in 24:46.7.
 
Taylor Highers finished her cross country career with a 47th place finish at a 25:00.4 finish, while Laura Witt placed 62nd at 25:35.2 to conclude the day's scoring at 177. Wrapping up the Cardinals' top-seven competitors were Abigail Perry, who finished in 69th place and Angelea Collins in 110th place, with respective times of 25:53.8 and 27:57.9.
 
The Cardinals were the best Empire 8 finisher in the race, as they placed behind only the winners, SUNY Geneseo, the University of Rochester, Ithaca, and Hamilton. As a result of today's competition, Corey and Gould were both named Niagara All-Region team members as they both placed within the race's top-25 competitors, marking the program's first All-Region selections and the program's first appearance in the national championship.
 
Corey now advances to the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship next Saturday, November 20th at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.