WESTFIELD, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished fourth on Saturday at an NCAA Division III Regional hosted by Westfield State University, performances good enough for each to earn invitations to the NCAA championship races.
The Panther runners will head to Spaulding University in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday for NCAA competition. The women’s race will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the men’s race at noon.
On this past Saturday at Westfield, the women finished fourth among 59 teams, while the men were fourth among 56 squads. 
Sophomore Abigail Nadler led the Panther women by placing fifth among 406 racers with a time of 21:26.55 over the 6-kilometer course. Nadler also took fifth a season ago at the regional meet.
Finishing in 29th was Sasha Whittle (22:08.31), followed by Meg Wilson (31st in 22:10.13), Catie Skinner (41st in 22:21.31) and Katherine MacCary (43rd in 22:22.89.
Brian Rich and Ascencion Aispuro led the men’s team. Rich took ninth (24:56.88) among 384 competitors, while Aispuro covered the 8K course in 25:10.49, good for 18th. They were followed by Connor Evans in 39th (25:34.00), Brendan Wood in 41st (25:35.58), and Kevin Serrao in 46th (25:41.74).