LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Aidan Cantine and Atticus Hempel led Swarthmore College Men's Cross Country at the NCAA Metro Regional Championship at DREAM Park on Saturday. 

The Garnet finished the race in third place with 116. Haverford (50), who the team event, earned the team automatic qualifier for the Metro and The College of New Jersey finished in second place with 99 points. The meet comprised of 169 runners and 21 teams. 

Cantine, a first team All-Centennial member, was the first Garnet runner to cross the finish line. The junior finished the 8K championship race in fifth place with a time of 25:27.9. Hempel, a member of the All-Centennial Second Team, was just two spots behind Cantine. The first-year finished the event in seventh place with a time of 25:46.

Aiden Tomov added a top-25 finish for Swarthmore. Tomov crossed the finish line in 21st with a time of 26:26.3. Harrison Kim crossed in 26:32.2 for a 27th place finish, while Ben Rosin rounded out the top five for the Garnet in 27:19.1. Sam Brody recorded a time of 27:20, while Colin DeLaney finished in 27:41.

With finishes in the top 35, Cantine, Hempel, Tomov and Kim were named to the Metro All-Region team. Cantine and Hempel earned bids to the NCAA Championships. Swarthmore will have to wait until Sunday to see if the team will compete in the NCAA National Championships on November 20th in Louisville, Ky. 

For the 2021 season, the NCAA announced a new procedure in selections for the NCAA Championships. A total of 32 teams compete as a team at the NCAA DIII Championships. 10 bids are automatic (top team in each of 10 regions), 22 bids are at-large. In addition, 70 individuals, not on qualifying teams, earn automatic selection based on their finish at the regional. The NCAA DIII Men's and Women's Track & Field and Cross Country Committee is tasked with selecting the 22 at-large teams for the national championships. Regional finish is the primary piece of at-large qualifying criteria. A team cannot be selected to the national meet over a team it finished behind at its respective regional.