No. 7 XC to Compete at NCAA Championship
November 21, 2014 01:13 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After earning an automatic qualification at the 2014 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional last weekend, the No. 7 West Virginia University cross country team travels to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the Division I 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championship.
“We came out of the regional meet very excited. The kids ran tremendous out there – our best race of the year,” said coach Sean Cleary. “Our kids have bought in. They just need to put themselves on the line Saturday, get prepared, and understand that you’re going to be surrounded by runners every second of this race.”
The Mountaineers will be making their seventh appearance at the NCAA championship in eight seasons under Cleary.
West Virginia placed second at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Nov. 14 to earn an automatic qualification. Sophomore Jillian Forsey led the way, placing second overall in 20:18. Senior Kaitlyn Gillespie followed directly behind in third place (20:22).
In total, five Mountaineer runners placed in the top 15 to earn All-Mid-Atlantic Region distinctions.
“What they’ve been doing is phenomenal. The message is to have fun and do everything they’ve been doing so far,” Cleary said. “We don’t need miracles. We don’t last-second shots. We just need seven strong races. If they manage that goal, then we’ve got a shot to be successful.”
The No. 7 ranking for the Mountaineers is their highest since 2009. West Virginia is coming off a 24th-place finish a season ago at the event, and its highest finish ever at the NCAA Championship was a fourth-place result in 2008.
The action will get underway at noon, ET, on Saturday. A link to the live stream of the event can be found at WVUsports.com.
No. 7 #WVU to Compete at NCAA Championship | http://t.co/0fkpUZTGIy #HailWV pic.twitter.com/kTuMvBeojj
— WVU Cross Country (@WVUCrossCountry) November 21, 2014
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