No. 17 WSU Men’s XC Team Earns At-Large Bid to NCAA Championships

No. 17 WSU Men’s XC Team Earns At-Large Bid to NCAA Championships

November 12, 2016 | Cross Country

2016 NCAA XC Selection Release

By: Washington State Athletic Communications

INDIANAPOLIS -- For the second consecutive season, the Washington State men's cross country team, under the direction of third-year coach Wayne Phipps, earned an at-large bid to compete at the NCAA Championships, the NCAA announced Saturday. The Cougars, coming off a fifth-place NCAA West Region finish, were one of 13 men's teams nationally to receive the at-large bid. The NCAA Cross Country Championships are Saturday, Nov. 19, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terra Haute, Ind.

WSU's Michael Williams and John Whelan led the No. 17 Cougars to a fifth-place finish Friday at the West Region meet in Sacramento. Junior Michael Williams and senior John Whelan finished 17th and 18th, respectively, earning All-Region honors. Williams ran a time of 29 minutes, 59.8 seconds while Whelan's time was 30:02.5. Other Cougar men scoring were Chandler Teigen, 27th in 30:10.9, Sam Levora, 36th in 30.24.7, and Nathan Wadhwani, 47th in 30:39.0. Other WSU men racing Friday and their finishes: Paul Ryan, 65th (30:58.6) and Nathan Tadesse, 73rd (31:10.7).

Whelan and Williams were accorded NCAA All-Region honors Friday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). A total of 450 student-athletes (225 men and 225 women) earned the distinction by finishing among the top 25 individual finishers at one of the nine regional sites across the country.

This is the 14th appearance for the WSU men's team at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. WSU's best finish was in 1998 when the men's team, led by Bernard Lagat, placed 18th. Last year the WSU men's team placed 26th at the NCAA Championships. At the 2015 NCAA Championships in Louisville, Williams was 57th overall/45th in team scoring. The other Cougars and their 2015 finishes were: Whelan 113th/91st; Levora 151st/120th; Wadhwani 174th/141st; Teigen 183rd/150th; Tadesse 193rd/158th; and Jake Finney 223rd/186th.

The No. 4 Stanford and No. 12 Portland men's teams automatically advanced from the NCAA West Region with their first and second-place finishes. Pac-12 and defending national champions, Colorado, finished second in the Mountain Regional and advanced to the national meet. The other men's teams joining WSU in receiving at-large berths includes: Boise State, BYU, California, Colorado State, Dartmouth, Illinois, Iowa State, Oregon, Providence, Southern Utah, UCLA, and UTEP. There are six Pac-12 men's teams competing at the NCAA Championships this year.

Thirty-one teams were selected to participate in each the men's and women's championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large. Additionally, 38 individuals were selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual qualifiers finished in the top 25 in their regions.

Indiana State will host the championships, Saturday, Novembe19, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at Wabash Valley Family Sport Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. ET, followed by the men's race at approximately Noon ET. A live webcast of the championships will be broadcast from 11 a.m. ET until the conclusion of the awards ceremony, Saturday, November 19, on NCAA.com.