NCAA Regional Championships next for cross country

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant cross country team heads to Buffalo, New York, on Friday for perhaps its biggest meet of the season: the NCAA Regional. Not only is the meet on a bigger stage, but a longer one: the men will run a 10K this weekend while the women will compete in a 6K. The women are one of 39 teams running in Friday's race, while the men are one of 38.

For senior Ryan Poholek (North Attleboro, Mass.), it will be the final meet of his cross country career at Bryant. Poholek has improved in every race over his times at the same meets during his junior year and has become a leader for the Bulldogs.

"It's a little intimidating for some people," Poholek said. "You get to the line and you see Syracuse who won the national championship two years ago, and you're running against them. We need to not be intimidated by them, we need to run our race and just be mentally tough out there. Our goal is to race our heart out and see if we can do something out on the course."

The women will be competing against three nationally ranked programs; #10 Providence, #24 Columbia and #30 Dartmouth. The men will share a course with #3 Syracuse and #22 Iona.

The race is the final scheduled meet for the Bulldogs and closes out a successful 2017 season. Senior Melissa Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass.) has placed 15th or better in each race over the course of the season, highlighted by a sixth-place finish at the Northeast Conference Championship on Oct. 28. Freshman Noah Tellier (North Kingstown, R.I.) was named an NEC Rookie of the Week and has alternated with Poholek as the top two male finishers in each meet this season.

"As a team, we exceeded our goal," Poholek said. "We wanted to come in the top five [in the conference]. We really wanted to beat Wagner, that was one of our goals we wrote, so we're really happy with that."

The NCAA Regionals will begin at 11 a.m. when the gun fires for the women's 6K. The men's race will begin at noon.