Boston - Following a strong showing at the America East Championships, the Stony Brook men’s and women’s cross country teams return to action at the 2015 NCAA Northeast Regionals Friday at Franklin Park. The women’s 6K will begin at noon, followed by the men’s 10K at 1 p.m.

Coach Ronan’s Take
“The Regional Championships are always very tough … You have the best athletes from the region on the line,” said head coach Andy Ronan. “Tomorrow, 40 teams will line each one with a goal they are looking to achieve.

“For us, on the women’s side, we are looking for an NCAA-qualifying performance from Christina [Melian]. She has been running very consistent all season and is one of the main challengers for one of the four individual spots. I feel there are six to eight challengers, so she will have to bring her A-game if she wants to advance. Team-wise, I feel we have not had our best team run yet. If we get it tomorrow, then a top-12 placing would be good.

“The men are looking to feed off the momentum from finishing runner-up in the conference meet. A top-15 finish would be great for this young team. We will need strong runs from Mitch Kun, Michael Watts and Joe Clark to achieve that.”

Dirty Water
The course at Franklin Park is familiar to junior Christina Melian (Staten Island, N.Y.), who won the Battle in Beantown Sept. 25 on her way to USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honors. Melian won the 5K that day in 16:50 against a field that featured many of the same runners who will be competing Friday.

Come Together
The Stony Brook men’s team finished second at the America East Championships Oct. 31. Senior Mitchell Kun (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the top Seawolf across in sixth place at 25:21.66 in the 8K as the Seawolves will look to ride that momentum into the regional.

Nice, Bryce
Freshman Bryce Hedman (Ledyard, Conn.) took home some hardware at the America East Championships with a 12^th-place finish in 25:39.11 on his way to Rookie of the Meet honors.

Commonwealth Homecoming
The Seawolves feature a pair of Massachusetts natives in men’s senior Joseph Clark and women’s sophomore Jane Clark, as the brother-sister duo hails from Worcester.