The Ursinus College men's cross country team made program history this week with a regional ranking from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), which released its first regional standings of the fall.
The Bears checked in at No. 9 in the Metro Region, the first regional ranking in school history. They were joined by the women's team, which also collected its first-ever spot in the top-10 at No. 8.
Competing in the Metro Region for the first time after an extended stint in the Mid-Atlantic, Ursinus is one of four Centennial Conference programs in the Metro top-10. Haverford topped the poll, while Swarthmore (No. 6) and Muhlenberg (No. 10) also made appearances. Johns Hopkins (No. 1) and Dickinson (No. 3) are heavy hitters in the Mid-Atlantic.
Ursinus was voted sixth in the Centennial Conference preseason poll, which was also released earlier this week. Johns Hopkins is the favorite with 61 points and five first-place votes, with Haverford hot on the Blue Jays' heels earning 59 points and the other four first-place ballots. Dickinson is third (50 points), followed by Swarthmore (42), Gettysburg (31), Ursinus (30), Muhlenberg (26), Franklin & Marshall (15), and McDaniel (10).
The ranking is a hard-earned mark of progress for head coach Carl Blickle's squad, which has placed in the top-25 at the NCAA Mideast Regional championships three years running and matched a program record with a sixth-place showing at the 2019 Centennial Conference meet.
Senior Marcos Maciel headlines a deep unit, entering his final campaign on the heels of a stellar finish to the 2019 season. Maciel placed 31st at the conference championship and 78th at regionals, leading the Bears' pack at the latter, and his time of 25:55.30 at the Oberlin College Inter-Regional Rumble was the best by an Ursinus runner in the Centennial Conference era.
Fellow senior Ed Martinez landed inside the top-50 at the most recent conference meet, while senior Jesse Wun and junior Steve Wilkins were both part of the Bears' top-seven.
Seniors Colin McCarty and Brandon Slaboda, along with junior Payton Stanziani, also competed at the last conference championship.
Blickle hit the recruiting trail hard since the culmination of the 2019 season; he brought in 18 new student-athletes into the ranks over the past two cycles, all of whom will be eager to get their first taste of collegiate competition.
The Bears hit the course for the first time on Wednesday, September 1, at the Johns Hopkins Invitational.