LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Zach Houff put himself in position for a potential bid to the NCAA Division III Championships with an 18th-place finish at Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. Houff's finished led the Diplomats to a 14th-place team finish.

With his 18th-place finish in a career-best time of 25:17.8, Houff is currently the 12th-best finisher among the non-advancing teams. Individual bids are awarded to the top seven finishers on non-advancing teams. However, if Carnegie Mellon is among the 22 at-large teams selected to the NCAA Division III Championship, Houff would ascend to sixth on that list. The Tartans appear to have a strong case to be selected as they are currently ranked 10th among all Division III teams.

Tommy Tapino was a second all-region performer for the Diplomats as his time of 25:37.6 placed him 26th in the field. Tapino earns the first all-region honors of his career following the meet on Saturday.

George Williams (27:18.0), Walter Mulroy (27:34.6), and Aiden Cotter (27:57.8) rounded out the Diplomats' five scoring runners. For Williams and Cotter, their finishes marked career bests in the final races of their cross country careers. Mulroy was making his regional debut as a first-year and posted a career best time at the meet. Junior Addison Neuen (28:29.8) and first-year Asher Walton (28:38.7) were close together as F&M's sixth and seventh runners.

Franklin & Marshall will now await the official announcement of team and individual qualifiers to the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championship. The official announcement will come on Sunday, November 15 in a press release on NCAA.com. The 2026 national championship will be held on Saturday, November 21 in Northfield, Minnesota.