Nov. 10, 2007

Complete Results

BETHLEHEM, PA -- Sophomore Laura Paulsen placed fourth overall and the Johns Hopkins women's cross country team put itself in position to earn an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Championships with a third-place showing at the 2007 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. Hopkins totaled 138 points to out-distance Elizabethtown (141) in the battle for third place. Dickinson (53) and Haverford (110) made it a one-two-three finish for Centennial Conference schools.

The top two team finishers earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with the selection of the at-large field due to be announced Sunday (3 pm). As one of the top seven individual finishers not on one of the top two teams, Paulsen earns an automatic individual selection to the NCAAs.

Paulsen led a contingent of seven non-seniors for the Blue Jays at the regional championships as she earned her fourth-place finish with a time of 21:48. Junior Rachel Hogan was Hopkins' second top-20 finisher as she placed 18th with a time of 22:35.

The Blue Jays' depth helped them secure the third-place team finish as sophomores Mira Patel (22:58) and Mary O'Grady (22:58) tied for 34th place (Patel officially given 34th place) and junior Emma Hiza rounded out JHU's scoring runners in the race with a 47th-place finish in the field of 249 with a time of 23:18.

Paulsen will make her second consecutive trip to the NCAAs as she parlayed a second-place finish at the regional championships last year into her individual entry. The Johns Hopkins women's cross country team has never earned a team bid to the NCAAs.

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