RPI senior Grace Tilton was named the Atlantic Region athlete of the year after winning the NCAA Atlantic Regional. The St. Lawrence teams as well as Tilton and Dan Fritz of Clarkson will compete this weekend at the NCAA Division III Championships.
RPI's Tilton named Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year; joins Fritz, St. Lawrence at Nationals
USTFCCCA Women's Regional Athletes of the Year
Grace Tilton, a senior on the RPI women's cross country team, has been selected as the Atlantic Region athlete of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), as voted on by the Division’s coaches.
Tilton, the fifth Liberty League student-athlete in the last six years to claim the honor, won the NCAA Atlantic Region Individual title with a 21:07.0 clocking on the 6K course at SUNY Geneseo. Her time was more than eight seconds faster than that of runner-up Amy Regan of the Stevens Institute. The win was her fourth of the season, including titles at the Liberty League Championships and the Geneseo Invitational, along with a runner-up finish at the NYSCTC Championships.
By virtue of her individual championship at the NCAA Atlantic Regional, Tilton was selected to compete at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship this Saturday, Nov. 23, at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind.
In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals must qualify in their respective NCAA regions.
Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the eight regions, for a total of 16 teams. Sixteen additional teams were selected at-large. The St. Lawrence University women's team finished second behind NYU at the Atlantic Regional, earning an automatic bid. On the men's side, the St. Lawrence men finished fourth, earning one of the 16 at-large bids.
Fifty-six individuals, the first seven athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship. Along with Tilton on the women's side, Clarkson University senior Dan Fritz became just the second Golden Knight since 1977 to qualify for the national meet. At the Atlantic Regional, Fritz finished 17th overall with a time of 25:32.4.
The women’s race will begin at 11 a.m. followed by the men’s race at 12:30 p.m.