On Monday afternoon, the NCAA announced the teams destined for the cross country national championships next Monday in Furman, S.C. The Big Green women earned an at-large bid to the tournament while the men were an automatic selection on the heels of their second-place finish at Northeast regionals.
Thirty-one men's and women's teams will compete at the national meet, which will be held on the campus of Furman University. Thirteen at-large bids were handed out, while the other 18 squads qualified automatically by finishing as one of the top two teams in their districts. In addition, the top 25 runners from each of the nine regions earned an invitation.
Eight women's teams made the championship from the Northeast, which includes New England and New York. Dartmouth was awarded a bit because it fielded a competitive team in a very talented district. Four other Ivy League schools made the championship -- Cornell, Columbia, Yale and Brown.
"Our district, simply stated, is considered, along with the Pac-10, as the best in the country," Big Green women's coach Ellen O'Neil '87 said.
Junior Jessie Allen-Young and senior Lara Neill figure to the lead the Big Green in the championship race. Both runners helped Dartmouth to a fourth-place finish in the Heptagonals championship earlier in the year. In that race, Dartmouth competed against some of the other teams destined to the NCAAs on Monday.
The Dartmouth men already knew that they would be heading to South Carolina for the meet after they finished second in the NCAA qualifier on Saturday. The team will be led into the championship by junior Tom McArdle, who has a shot at All-American status.
The Dartmouth men also competed in a very strong district all season and performed at a high level, winning the Heptagonals and finishing high in other races as well. This is the fourth year in a row that the men will be heading to the national championships.
