ABINGTON, Pa. – The Penn State Abington cross country team is gearing up for the NCAA Division III Mideast Regionals this Saturday. This year's participation will be the first time in program history that the women's squad will officially participate in the post-season championship event since the college joined the NCAA in 2008 as a provisional member and officially became a full time status in 2012.
 
Valerie Santangelo, the 2013 NEAC First Team All-Conference recipient, hopes to lead the pack of Nittany Lions' runners to represent Penn State Abington at the NCAA Regional event.
 
"It's very exciting to have our women's cross country team to finally participate in the NCAA event," said head coach Jose Rodriguez. "I'm just amazed by how hard the team has worked and how quickly we have come from starting the program in 2009 and improve so much in just a short amount of time to finally see the women's team participate in its first NCAA event in program history. It's just amazing."
 
The men's squad will also participate in the NCAA Regional event for the second time as last year's participation marked the milestone for the history of Penn State Abington Intercollegiate Athletics making an impact in a NCAA postseason event.
 
Alex Kane, the 2013 NEAC First Team All-Conference recipient, will lead the men's squad, who placed 32^nd as a team last year, once again and has a higher expectation this season to become the first male runner to qualify for the NCAA National Championship event in Hanover, Ind. Kane finished 73^rd overall in last year's regional in a time of 27:10.2 in his first NCAA event.
 
The teams will toe the line at the 2013 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Cross Country Championships hosted by Muhlenberg College at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. with the women's 6-kilometer race starting at 11:00 a.m. followed by the men's 8-kilometer race starting at 12:30 p.m.