Landmark Sending Four Runners To NCAA Cross Country Championships

INDIANPOLIS, Ind. - A total of four Landmark Conference student athletes have earned the right to participate at the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, held November 21 at Highland Hills Golf Course in Highland Hills, Ohio. The Landmark qualified three runners for the 2008 NCAA meet.

Three Landmark male athletes will compete in the Championship as Scranton's Chris Wasnetsky and Susquehanna's Paul Thistle each qualified for the second-straight season and Juniata's Matthew Bailey will attend for the first time. On the women's side Susquehanna's Casey Hess will compete at the NCAA meet for the first time in her second collegiate season.

Qualification for the NCAA meet is based on finishes at the NCAA Regionals. Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top two, sevenperson
teams automatically qualified from each of the eight regions, for a total of 16 teams. Sixteen additional teams were selected at-large. Fifty-six individuals, the first seven athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship. All four Landmark competitors were picked as individuals.

Wasnetsky finished eighth in a time of 25:19.2 over an 8000-meter course at the NCAA Mideast regionals to lead the Royals to a 16th-place in the 45-team field. Wasnetsky is the Royals’ fifth national qualifier and the third runner to do so on more than one occasion, joining two-time qualifier Chris Heaton (1987, 1988) and former Scranton Preparatory standout and three-time qualifier Joe Fent (1998, 1999, 2000). He finished 96th in the field of 278 runners at the 2008 NCAA Division III championships in Hanover, Indiana.

Thistle finished 13th individually out 314 runners with a time of 25 minutes, 28.7 seconds on the 8,000-meter course, 34.4 seconds behind the first-place finisher from Allegheny. Thistle earned all-region honors for his performance and returns to the NCAA meet for the second time in two years. The three-time Landmark individual champion, Thistle placed 164th out of 278 runners at the NCAA meet in his junior year.

Bailey is the first Juniata cross country runner in program history to qualify for the NCAA cross country championship. He finished 27th overall at Saturday's NCAA Mideast Region meet in Bethlehem, Pa., posting a time of 25:58.2; also becoming the first Juniata man to ever run sub-26 minutes on an eight kilometer course.

Susquehanna's Hess placed fifth individually out of 311 runners with a time of 21 minutes, 53.1 seconds on the 6,000-meter course, just 13.9 seconds behind the first-place finisher from Lebanon Valley College. Hess earned all-region honors for her performance and automatically qualified for the national championships meet. She won the Landmark Championship two weekends ago, and has posted the top times in the conference throughout the season.

Story provided by Juniata, Scranton & Susquehanna Sports Information