Bears Closes Season Strong at NCAA South Regionals

Friday, November 15

Tallahassee, Fla.

Mercer University

NCAA South Regional

Results (PDF)

Bears Closes Season Strong at NCAA South Regionals

11/15/2019 6:26:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Jesika Moore

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –The Bears arrived at the Appalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee for the site of the NCAA South Regional Championships represented with a full men's team and two women individuals in Jerrica Hanson and Ashley McMahon.

This is the first time the Mercer Men returned to the first round of NCAA Regionals since 2014 with a team. That year, the program finished 21st of 22 teams.

Mercer ran on to a 20th out of 24-team finish with 609 points. The Bears ran ahead of conference rival UT-Chattanooga and ACC program Miami with a team score of average of 33:39. Vlad Zander-Velloso led the way for the Bears in 100th place in a time of 32:51. His performance was the top individual finish for Mercer since 2012.

To round out scoring pack for Mercer was 121. Sean Parker, 133 Robert Zell, 138 Diego Sosa Lavieri, and 140 Josiah Jaqua.

On the Women's side, Ashley McMahon led the way for the Bears for the last time this season in a time of 22:52 for 133rd place in her regionals debut. Jerrica Hanson finished close behind in 177th with a time of 23:38.

"Overall I am very content with the program's showing today" said Head Coach Josh Hayman. "We came a long way this season and it was great to have Mercer return to Regionals. Our athletes got a great experience and put together a solid race. We trusted our instincts today and went for it. I look forward to seeing this team advance in the region ranks in the coming years."

Women's 6K Individual Results
133. Ashley McMahon, 22:52
177. Jerrica Hanson, 23:38

Men's 8K Individual Results
100. Vald Zander-Velloso, 32:51
121. Sean Parker, 33:22
133. Robert Zell, 33:48
132. Diego Levieri Sosa, 34:05
134. Josiah Jaqua, 34:10
149. Marc Reiser, 35:44

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Cross Country, follow the team at @MercerXCTF (Twitter) and visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.