The Waynesburg University men’s cross country team is wrapping up its week off that followed the PAC Championships two weeks ago. The Jackets prepared for the regional championships this past week which will be held in Center Valley at DeSales University.

This isn’t new terrain for the Yellow Jackets, because they competed there previously in early October.

Waynesburg is only limited to 10 total athletes that are allowed to participate. They will be able to travel seven active athletes and three reserves.

Head coach Chris Hardie revealed who will be traveling, and it includes two juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen.

“We can take a travel team of 10 they are two juniors Mason Klopp and Jared Scott, six sophomores Matt Mansfield, Kyle Warmbein, Nate Jecelin, Jordan Payne, Matt Durgin, Mac Colomb and two freshman Micah Kurka and Silas Mays,” said Hardie. “We will decide on who is racing because we’re only allowed to race seven, we will pick by Wednesday.”

The six sophomores are considered the core of the team by Hardie and are supposed to fill most of the active runner slots at the race. If they fill six, that would leave one spot for one of the other Jacket runners to fill.

Hardie feels confident in the sophomores as they have carried the load of the work throughout the regular season.

“The six sophomores have been our top six guys all year, so that’s kind of the core of the team that’s why that seventh spot is up for grabs,” said Hardie. “Mason and Jared have run in that consistently all year, and then Silas and Micah have been there as well.”

Scott is the front-runner for the seventh spot and was spoken highly of on multiple occasions because of his experience and performance throughout the season.

Durgin believes that Scott gained the experience and worked to earn the opportunity to run this weekend.

“Jared Scott has more experience and a few better races this season,” said Durgin.

Hardie said 28 minutes is the magic number anfd the goal for his team. Jecelin and Durgin were both close to the 28-minute mark throughout their races this season.

Durgin believes since the team ran the course earlier in the year, that it’ll provide the Jackets with familiarity and should result in better times.

“I think that we should be in the low 28’s when we run at DeSales again, we kind of know the course this time,” said Durgin. “We are pretty competitive so if we feed off of each other and the competition I think we can get low 28’s.”

Last year, the men’s cross country team finished 32nd out of a field of 51 teams at regionals. Both Jecelin and Jacob Pryor led the team at the event. Jecelin was able to finish under 28 minutes, coming in 116th with a time of 27:28. For Pryor, he was only a second over 28 minutes at 28:01.

The Jackets will appear in Center Valley for the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Saturday, Nov. 10.