LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Junior Maura Lenhart (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) and senior Deandra Young (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) each turned in top-20 times in Saturday morning's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships, boosting the Kutztown University women's cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the West Branch Cross Country Course on the campus of Lock Haven University.
 

Kutztown saw seven runners compete at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, including reigning All-Atlantic Region runners Lenhart and Young. It was this duo that would put the Golden Bears in a great position in the end, as they once again collected All-Atlantic Region honors as top-25 finishers, the second honor for each runner. The team's 209 points put them in fifth place in the field of 22 teams.
 

Lenhart ran a personal best time of 21:53.7 in the 6k race, topping her season best mark by seven seconds from her final regular season outing at the Lehigh Paul Short Run. That mark earned the Center Valley, Pa., native an 11th-place finish in the field of 167 runners, the best finish by a Golden Bear in an NCAA Atlantic Regional since 2018.
 

Young's 20th-place finish is a two-spot improvement from a season ago, while her 22:03.7 time at this year's edition of the race gave her a season-best by nearly a minute.
 

The rest of the team's top five included junior Lizzie Brown (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) (22:49.1, 49th), senior Sophia Knerr (Columbia, N.J./North Warren Regional) (22:53.2, 55th) and sophomore Olivia Solomon (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) (23:22.8, 77th). Four of Kutztown's seven competing runners recorded PR times in the 6k race.
 

Kutztown's fifth-place finish eclipsed the pre-race regional ranking handed from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA), which had the Golden Bears as the seventh-best team in the Atlantic Region. The team's 209 points put them just ahead of sixth-place Fayetteville State, which saw a pair of runners finish in the top 10.
 

Davis & Elkins claimed the team title with 58 points, marking their second consecutive top finish in the regional competition. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference foes East Stroudsburg (113 points) and Edinboro (127) rounded out the top three teams, all of whom qualify for the NCAA DII Championships in Kenosha, Wisc., later this month.
 

Each of the top three individual finishers came from teams outside the top three, as Natalie Barr of Glenville State, Emily Bowers of Gannon, and Faith Kiplimo of Fayetteville State all secured a trip to nationals by way of their placement in today's competition.
 

Lenhart has a chance to earn an at-large bid as an individual to the NCAA DII Championships at Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 22, as the full team of individual qualifiers will be announced on Monday, November 10, at NCAA.com.
 

The Golden Bears finish the season with high hopes for the 2026 season after winning a pair of regular-season meets, breaking into the top five teams in the Atlantic Region and gaining ground in regional competition for the second straight year.

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NCAA DII ATLANTIC REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2025
LOCK HAVEN, PA. | WEST BRANCH CROSS COUNTRY COURSE
6,000 METERS

Team: 5th/23 (209 pts.)

11. Maura Lenhart (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) – 21:53.7 All-Atlantic Region Honors

20. Deandra Young (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) – 22:03.7 All-Atlantic Region Honors

49. Lizzie Brown (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) – 22:49.1

55. Sophia Knerr (Columbia, N.J./North Warren Regional) – 22:53.2

77. Olivia Solomon (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) – 23:22.8

80. Faith Belote (Easton, Pa./Easton) – 23:26.3

96. Jensen Kraft (Nutley, N.J./Saint Mary) – 23:49.7