The University of Minnesota men's and women's cross country teams earned at-large bids the NCAA Division I Championships to be held a week from today in Terre Haute, Indiana.The men's team will make its 12th trip to the NCAA Championships in the last 13 years. For the women, it's the squad's sixth-straight trip to "the big dance."
Both Gopher teams finished in third place at the NCAA Division I Midwest Regional in Peoria, Illinois on Saturday, missing out on the two automatic bids available for the meet there. When at-large selections were made on Sunday, however, travel arrangements to the Queen City of the Wabash were back on.
For the men, the NCAA bid was a reward for a resilient team that weathered the early-season loss of three-time All-American Hassan Mead to a collapsed lung. Ben Blankenship led the team at regionals on Saturday, finishing 7th overall.
There's a recap of the men's race, HERE, on Gophersports.com.
“I’m so happy for our guys,” head coach Steve Plasencia said. “They really gave it their all in the last couple of meets and I’m excited that it was enough to reward them with an NCAA bid.”
The Gopher men were the only men's at-large team taken from the Midwest Regional.
Women's coach Gary Wilson had high praise for his squad as well after hearing the good news about nationals.
“What can I say about this team,” Wilson asked. “These young women have worked very hard for this and I’m so excited that they reached their goal of getting to NCAAs. We have such a young team but they have just been getting better and better.”
There's a recap of the women's race HERE.
The Gopher women were one of three at-large teams from the Midwest Regional to make nationals, joining Kansas State and Tulsa.
Junior Stephanie Price was the Midwest Regional champion, winning the 6K race in 20:02
Midwest Regional results can be found HERE (men) and HERE (women).
The complete NCAA Division I Championship field can be found HERE.
Hamline, St. Olaf Advance in D3 ...
The champions of the MIAC will represent the state's D3 teams at the NCAA Division III Championships in Waverly, Iowa on Saturday. The Hamline men and the St. Olaf women earned at-large bids to the meet yesterday.
Hamline finished 3rd at the NCAA Division III Central Regional - held on the national meet course -- behind champion Grinnell and runner-up Luther. St. Olaf was fourth among women's teams, trailing champs Luther, hosts Wartburg, and Nebraska Wesleyan.
Individually, regional champion Ben Sathre of St. Thomas, Dustin Franta of St. John’s, and Tom Sederquist of Concordia-Moorhead will compete in the men's race at NCAAs.
UMAC champion Linda Keller of Minnesota-Morris, Simone Childs-Walker of Carleton, Taylor Berg and Allie Metzler of St. Thomas, Jessica Kociscak of Hamline, and Alison Smyth of Carleton will compete as individuals in the women's race.
Central Regional results can be found HERE (men) and HERE (women).
The complete NCAA Division III Championship field can be found HERE.
Follow the Action ... Down the Backstretch will be on the scene at the NCAA Division I and Division III Championships this weekend. Follow the web-site as well as our Facebook page and your editor's Twitter feed for all the latest news.
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