Even as temperatures cool in mid-November, the cross-country season is just beginning to heat up. This Saturday, the Cornell men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Harvard to compete in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship. Both teams look to improve on their sixth place finishes last season as they continue on their quest towards nationals.

Two weeks ago, the men’s team tied for third in the Heptagonal Cross Country Championships held at Columbia. It was their third consecutive podium finish. The Red were led by a pair of All-Ivy League performances from juniors Nate Edelmen and Matt DeSilva, finishing fourth and 14th with times of 25:31.2 and 25:50.9 respectively. Co-captain Charlie Hatch finished 21st in 26:04.2.

“We were a little bit disappointed at our results for the conference championship because we had such high hopes,” Hatch said. “We didn’t really expect the other teams (Princeton and Columbia) to run as well as they did, but once again these teams just come through every year.”

Late breaker: Cross country heads to the Northeast Regionals in Cambridge.

While a berth at nationals will certainly be difficult for the Red to attain, it is certainly not out of reach. The top two teams at Regionals qualify automatically while several other top teams will receive at-large bids.

“This meet will also be tough because there are always two or three national caliber teams,” said Hatch. “Every year all we can really hope for is a few teams to slip up. It’s a long shot this year. It’s really just a head-in-and-do-your-best kind of thing because the other teams are just so good this year and our region is just so tough.”

The Cornell women finished fourth for the second consecutive year. Senior captain Stephanie Pancoast led the Red with a ninth place finish in a personal best time of 17:40.9 to earn All-Ivy honors for the second straight year. Freshman Genna Hartung also garnered All-Ivy honors placing 11th in a time of 17:50.7. Fellow freshman Katie Kellner finished 23rd in 18:18.8.

“It feels good to have my last Hep to be my fastest Hep,” Pancoast said. “I was hoping to do a little bit better place wise, but overall I was happy with my performance.”

The Red have been boosted by talented freshman Hartung and Kellner. Hartung set the Moakley Course Record in her first collegiate meet. She and Kellner have been steady contributors for Cornell the entire season.

“Before the race my coach told me I had a chance at All-Ivy,” Hartung said. “I really wanted to shoot for that. I think I ran my hardest race of the year…when I found out I was All-Ivy I was pretty happy, it’s something I’ll remember forever.”

Saturday’s race will be the last chance at Regionals for seniors Pancoast and Erin Roberts.

“It’s definitely weird to be racing in my last Regionals,” Pancoast said. “I raced a lot on this course in high school, so it’s nice that my last Regionals are here. My goal this weekend is to race well and be happy with our performance as a team.”

While the competition will be difficult, the Red remain confident that they will have a good showing in this weekend’s race. Last year’s women’s race featured 34 teams and 247 runners from all over the Northeast region, while the men’s race showcased 33 teams and 239 runners.

“It’ll be really competitive,” Hartung said. “We’ve raced a lot of the teams already though, and we’ve beaten a majority of them, and there’s only a few that have beaten us. I’m looking to finish top-25 and I think if a couple of us could do that, our team will have a really good race.”