Garden City, N.Y. - Ahead of the opening weekend of cross country season, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has revealed its preseason regional rankings, pitting the Adelphi women's team at sixth and the men's team fifth. 

Regional Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams' strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining a rank-order of squad potential. Only USTFCCCA member programs are eligible to receive a ranking. Teams with provisional status within the region may be ranked.

Regional Championships Saturday, which Adelphi will host for the second time since 2018, is set for Saturday, November 19.

On the women's side, the East Region is led by Southern New Hampshire and are joined by two other Northeast-10 member schools in the top-five. The Panthers are right on the cusp of that group, appearing at no. 6 after finishing 15th at last year's regional race. The team is anchored by the Marsh twins, Katherine and Isabel - the latter leading the Brown and Gold as the first finisher at the regional a season ago with a 6K time of 23:44.5. 

The squad only lost one member from the 2021 roster, and welcomes two first years in Lucia Kutner and Shari Thorsten. 

For the men, defending regional champion American International appears a no. 1 with four NE10 schools in the top five, as Adelphi lands just on the inside at no.5. The Panthers finished last year's regional at sixth, with top finisher Diego Llanos racing to a 31st place finish with a 10K time of 33:16.1. The 2022 roster consists of 19 harriers this season which includes graduate students Thomas Roulette and Matthew Gemma back for another cross country season. 

Eighteen different teams will head to Bethpage Polo at the Park for the fifth Panthers XC Invite since 2017. The women's 5K will showcase 120 entries as the men's features a field of 160 competitors. 

This is the first of three races that Adelphi will host this season at Bethpage, including a Short Course Showdown (5K for both men and women) ahead of the NE10 Championship on Sunday, Nov. 6 and then the NCAA East Regional race on Nov. 19.