Click here to see the full photo album of the 2017 Cross Country Signing Day
NEWARK, Del. - - Wilmington University cross country head coach Keith Jones replenished his rosters during the team's signing period, adding three women and three men to his teams for the upcoming 2017 cross country season.
Heading into his 17th season at the helm of the Wildcats this fall, Jones added three incoming freshmen women while adding two incoming freshmen men and one junior college transfer to the men's team.
Coming from high schools around the area, Jones brought in Alexa Crowell (Brandywine High School), Julia Merritt (Bel Air High School), and Tara McDonald (Bohemia Manor High School) to sign letters of intent on Wednesday, April 12.
Crowell finished 11th overall at the DIAA Division II State Meet this past Fall for Brandywine, earning Third Team All-State. She finished eighth overall at the Blue Hen Conference Championship meet, earning First Team All-Conference as well. She earned All-County as well, placing 21st at the New Castle County Championships. Crowell was also the N5CTA Cross Country Girls Team MVP and is an All-Academic student-athlete at Brandywine.
Merritt will join the Wildcats from Bel Air High School. She earned Second Team All-County as a junior in 2015 and is the Bel Air Outdoor Track Team Captain. She was also the 2016-17 Indoor Team Captain.
McDonald will come from Bohemia Manor High School after competing in both cross country and track and field. She helped lead the cross country team to the 2016 Team Regional Championship. On the track, she was a part of the 4x800 Maryland State Championship relay team in 2016 that also won the regional championship. That relay also took home the 2016 Indoor Regional Championship earlier in the year. She was All-County in the 1600 meter as a sophomore and All-Conference in the 1600 as a junior.
On the men's side, Jones brought in a pair of incoming freshman in Jacob Puharic (Caravel Acadmey) and Sean Scandle (Ridley High School), as well as a junior college transfer from Del Tech in Mark Corrigan (St. Mark's).
Puharic will join the Wildcats in the fall after earning Third Team All-State as a junior and a senior at Caravel Academy. He also finished third in the 3200-meter race at the Meet of Champions in 2016. He was the cross country team's MVP as a junior and senior, and the indoor and outdoor track and field team's MVP as a sophomore, junior, and senior.
Scandle will join the team from Ridley High School. He currently holds the seventh fastest 5K time at Ridley High School, and placed 14th at the Delaware County Championship Meet this past fall.
Corrigan is the lone junior college transfer for the Wildcats, coming from Del Tech CC after competing for St. Mark's High School. He took home the 2016 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Men's Athlete of the Year award for the Atlantic Region this past fall, earning a qualification for the 2016 NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament. He placed 61st overall at the National Championship this fall with a time of 26:59.27. He was the NJCAA Division II Region 19 Championship individual winner as well.
The Wilmington University cross country season begins shortly after Labor Day Weekend.