Nov. 13, 2007
The Patriot League will be represented by three student-athletes at Monday's NCAA Cross Country Championship. American's Brendan Fennell and Steve Hallinan as well as Army's John Mickowski will each run in the championship, which will take place on the campus of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. Fennell and Hallinan advanced after running strong races at the Mid-Atlantic Regional last Saturday, while Mickowski qualified at the New England Regional event.
Fennell and Hallinan finished 5th and 7th, respectively, at the Mid-Atlantic Regional race held at Lehigh University. Fennell ran the race in a time of 30:25, while Hallinan finished just four seconds later in a time of 30:29. Mickowski finished 7th overall at the New England Regional at Harvard University, in a time of 30:07.35. Thirty-six individuals automatically qualify to the championships races by being one of the top four regional finishers not on an advancing team. Two additional individuals are selected at-large by the committee. Since American (4th) and Army (12th) were not one of the top two qualifying teams, the three individual runners were one of the top four finishers that were not on a qualifying team.
The last time that the Patriot League had three individuals compete at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship was 1993, when Ray Appenheimer of Colgate finished 7th at the event.
The American men were the top finisher amongst Patriot League teams at both regional events last Saturday, finishing 4th of 28 teams. The American women posted an incomplete. Army finished 12th of 34 on the men's side, and 26th of 36 on the women's side. Here were the rest of the finishes by Patriot League schools: Bucknell, 11th of 28 (M) and 9th of 28 (W); Colgate, 20th of 34 (M) and 12th of 36 (W); Holy Cross, 30th of 34 (M) and 22nd of 36 (W); Lafayette, 26th of 28 (M) and 25th of 28 (W); Lehigh, 12th of 28 (M) and 19th of 28 (W); Navy, 5th of 28 (M) and 10th of 28 (W).
Indiana State University will host the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, November 19, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, Terre Haute, Indiana. The men's race will begin at noon Eastern time followed by the women's race at 12:55 p.m. Both championship races will be broadcast live on CSTV.
