Jaden Sweely, a 2020 Cherokee graduate, helped Widener win the NCAA Division 3 Metro Region Championship over the weekend.
Sweely placed 28th out of nearly 200 runners over the 6,000-meter course at Union Canal Tunnel Park in Lebanon, Pa.
She was named to the USTFCCCA All-Metro Region second team.
She ran 24:23 and was 6th runner for Widener, which outscored 2nd-place Swarthmore, 61-97, to win the first NCAA regional title in program history.
Sweely, a sophomore, bumped the 5th runners from every other school and the 4th runners from every 22 of the 23 other schools. She finished ahead of the 3rd runners from all but three schools in the 24-team race.
A week earlier, Sweely placed 16th out of more than 130 runners as Widener won its first Middle Atlantic Conference Championship. Widener outscored 2nd-place Misericordia of Dallas, Pa., 40-101. Sweely was Widener’s 5th finisher in the conference meet.
Widener is ranked 31st in the country in the most recent United States Track and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
Widener will race at the NCAA Division 3 National Championships for the first time in program history Saturday at Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich.
Anna Sasse of Williamstown was Rowan’s first finisher, taking 24th place in 24:14. Rowan placed 9th in team scoring.
Junior Jessie Klenk of Sterling placed 29th in 24:25 for Stockton, which placed 3rd with 127 points.
Freshman Savannah Hodgens from Mainland Regional was No. 5 runner for The College of New Jersey, which placed 4th in team scoring. Hodgens ran 24:37 and placed 36thoverall. She was the 6th freshman across the line.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 