EDINBORO, Pa.- The West Chester University women's cross country team returns to the course this weekend for the 2025 edition of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Cross Country Championships on the Doug Watts Course in Edinboro.
The women's race will begin at 10 a.m. followed by the men's race at 11.
The PSAC has launched a
Championship Central Page, which is available here. For fans unable to make the trip to Edinboro,
live timing and
live streaming will be available via those links. As has been tradition in previous years, the top-15 finishers will earn First Team All-Conference honors, while the next 15 will earn Second Team All-Conference honors.
"It's been a really fun season," opened Director of Cross Country and Track and Field
Colin Leak. "We've seen both teams really come together well and put in a lot of good work each week, so we are very excited for this weekend."
Last year, West Chester finished seventh at the 2024 Championships in Kutztown, led by an eighth-place finish by
Kristina Tapia (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) in 22 minutes and 51.9 seconds. Tapia's eighth-place finish was the best by a Golden Ram since Bella Marchini finished seventh in 2022.
Taylor Atkinson (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) enjoyed an excellent rookie campaign, including a 31
st-place finish at the PSAC Championships in 23:40.50, narrowly missing out on All-PSAC honors.
In the preseason coaches' poll released in August, West Chester was picked to finish seventh in the 2025 edition of the Championships.
West Chester is in the midst of an excellent fall season, during which the Golden Rams have finished in the top five at every meet, including a second-place finish at the WCU Season Opener in early September and a third-place finish out of 34 teams at the Paul Short Invitational in early September.
Tapia has led West Chester in all three of these races, finishing second in the season-opening 5K in 19 minutes and 17.6 seconds, along with a fourth-place finish at the Kutztown DII/DIII Challenge in 23:09.30 to lead the Golden Rams to a fifth-place team finish before placing third in the Green Division race at the Paul Short Invitational in 22:27.0.
Tapia was one of two Golden Rams in the top-10 at the Paul Short at
Jessalyn Welsh (Enola, PA./East Pennsboro) joined her in the top-10 in eighth in 22:50, while
Taylor Atkinson (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and
Megan Werner (Bristol, Pa./Conwell Egan) finished in the top-30 in 26
th and 29
th with times of 23:54.3 and 24:00.2, respectively.
Welsh also turned in a top-five finish in the season opener, finishing fifth in 19:46.2, while
Abbie Williams (Huntley, Il./Huntley) joined her in the top-10 in sixth in 19:48.4. Williams also turned in a strong race at the DII/DIII Challenge, finishing 17
th in 24:19.30 as the second Golden Ram across the line behind Tapia. Welsh also led West Chester at the Main Line Invitational with a 42
nd-place finish in 19:47.4, followed by
Ellie Goldberg (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) in 45
th in 19:52.7 as the two Golden Rams in the top-50 in an event that West Chester did not record a team score at.
Similar to the depth of his men's team, Leak's women's team also appears quite deep heading into the PSAC Championships. "We haven't been able to put the full squad on the calendar yet for one reason or another, so we really haven't shown all of our cards. Kristina is putting in amazing work and really leading us well this fall, and then people like
Jessalyn Welsh,
Abbie Williams, and
Taylor Atkinson have had great seasons to this point as well. We are also bringing Werner,
Ellie Goldberg (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford), and Riley Dortone (Romansville, Pa./Downingtown West) to Edinboro with us because they have all been looking strong and will be able to help us close the door. Jessa (
Jessalyn Welsh), Ellie (Goldberg), Taylor (Atkinson), Megan (Wener), and Abbie (Williams) are so tight that any one of them could be our second runner across the line on Saturday, which makes me very excited," said Leak.
"Place is everything for us on Saturday. We don't need any one individual to have an amazing race; we just need five to seven well-executed races and to see our point scores go down with each passing mile. My final message to the team is really to run within ourselves early, use our aerobic fitness in the middle of the race, and then finish with our hearts, and I think we can have a great day," finished Leak.
Following the PSAC Championships this weekend, West Chester will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Regional Championships at Lock Haven on November 8.
