Women's cross country garners 11th-straight NCAA berth

November 16, 2008

The NCAA Selection Committee announced Sunday evening the 31 men's and 31 women's teams that will compete for national titles at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on November 24 with the Arizona State University women earning their 11th-consecutive berth into the meet. The Championships will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind., next week.<separator></separator>The Sun Devil women, who finished fourth at the NCAA West Region Championships over the weekend at Stanford, Calif., were one of 13 at-large selections into the meet and will look build upon a trophy finish from 2007 that saw the team take fourth for the second time in three years. ASU will compete in the 6,000m run at 12:08 p.m. ET (10:08 p.m. Arizona time) while the men's 10,000m run will take place at 12:48 p.m. ET. Both races can be watched live on CBS College Sports Network as well as via a live web streak on NCAA.com.<separator></separator>With their selection, the Sun Devil women extended their current streak of running in the national meet to 11 years in a row, marking the third-longest active streak in the nation and also the eighth-longest in NCAA women's history. Currently, only Providence (20 years in a row) and Pac-10 foe Stanford (16) have longer active streaks than the Sun Devils.<separator></separator>If the Sun Devils can win the national title, they not only would knock Stanford out of the top spot after three national titles in a row, but they also would become just the 11th different women's program to win the race. Villanova (eight titles), Stanford (five) and BYU (four) have won the most crowns in the 27 previous years the meet has been conducted by the NCAA.<separator></separator>Individually, the Sun Devils will be looking to capture All-America honors by placing among the Top 40 in the race. Last year, both <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/kingma_jenna00.html">Jenna Kingma</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/kielty_ali00.html">Ali Kielty</a> earned the national accolade by placing 37th and 42nd, respectively. Two other Sun Devils -- <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/olding_sunni00.html">Sunni Olding</a><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/paul_haley00.html">Haley Paul</a> -- also have earned the national honor in their collegiate careers with Olding taking All-America honors with Notre Dame and Paul with Washington State. and<separator></separator>2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships Selections Women's 6,000m Race Arkansas, Arizona State, Baylor, Boston College, Florida, Florida State, Georgetown, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Notre Dame, Oregon, Princeton, Providence, Rice, SMU, Stanford, Stony Brook, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Villanova, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin<separator></separator>Men's 10,000m Race Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, BYU, Butler, Cal Poly, California, Colorado, Florida State, Georgetown, Iona, Iowa State, Michigan, Minnesota, NC State, Notre Dame, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Portland, Providence, Stanford, Texas A&M, Tulsa, UCLA, Villanova, Virginia, Washington, Williams & Mary and Wisconsin