The Bob O’Connor Golf Course in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park is the site of the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championship, Dec. 1, one of the events hosted by Slippery Rock University as part of the NCAA Division II Fall Festival.
Slippery Rock University runner Marianne Abdalah of Wexford will represent The Rock at the Cross Country National Championships Saturday in St. Leo, Florida. She is the first Rock female runner in nine years to reach the national finals. The top-40 finishers in the field of 250 runners will be named All-Americans. SRU has not had an All-American runner in more than a decade.
Saturday will also mark the last official cross country meet for longtime Slippery Rock head coach John Papa, who has announced that he will retire from The Rock following the 2022 outdoor track and field seasons. Papa has coached 30 former SRU women to the National Championships in cross country and has overseen nine women that placed in the top 40 to earn All-America recognition. Papa has been the head coach at The Rock since 1987.