WU Men's and Women's Cross Country Qualify for NCAA Meet

St. Louis, Mo., November 15, 2009 – The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s cross country teams have both qualified to compete in the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship meet, as announced Sunday by the NCAA cross country selection committee.

The Washington U. women automatically qualified for the championship as the second-place finisher at the 2009 NCAA Division III Midwest Region Championships, held Saturday, Nov. 14, in Winneconne, Wis. The WU men’s team received one of 16 available at-large selections, following their third-place showing at the Midwest Championships. A total of 32 teams will compete in both the men’s and women’s NCAA races.

This year’s NCAA Division III Championship is hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College, and will be held on Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Highland Hills Golf Course in Highland Hills, Ohio. The women’s championship will begin at 11 a.m. (ET), with the men’s race to follow at Noon (ET).

It is the sixth-straight NCAA appearance for the Washington University women’s cross country team, and the ninth in school history. The WU men will compete at the NCAA Championships for just the fourth time in school history and the first time since 2006. It is the second time Washington U. has had both its men’s and women’s cross country squads qualify for nationals, the last time coming in 2006.

The Bears were one of four University Athletic Association (UAA) teams to be selected to compete in both the men’s and women’s championship fields. Emory University and Carnegie Mellon University received automatic berths on the men’s side, with New York University also earning an at-large bid.

Emory University also was an automatic qualifier for the women’s race, with Case Western Reserve University and New York receiving at-large invitations.