INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.--The NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Committee has announced the participants for the 2022 NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships.
Three runners from the Pacific West Conference are on that list. Fresno Pacific's
Bryan Banuelos, Domincan's
Jared Wright and Azusa Pacific's
Eline Pinter will make the trip to Washington next week for the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championships.
That trio joins the Azusa Pacific men's team, Biola's
Benjamin White and the Biola women's team as qualifiers. The APU men placed third at the NCAA West Region Championships last Saturday in Billings, Mont. to qualify and White was third overall. Biola's women also finished third to earn the automatic qualifier.
Banuelos finished fifth overall and Wright was ninth. Pinter was also ninth in Billings. Banuelos and Wright were the second and third PacWest runners to cross the finish line behind White, while Pinter was the second PacWest racer to finish, behind Biola's
Bethany Mapes, who was eighth.
In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA regional competitions that were held this past weekend.
Thirty-four teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top three, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the eight regions, for a total of 24 teams. Ten additional teams were selected at-large. A minimum of 24 additional individuals were selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. The list of advancing teams and individuals is outlined below.
The championships will be held Dec. 2 at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, outside of Tacoma. Seattle Pacific University will serve as the host. The men’s race will begin at 10:00 a.m. followed by the women’s race at 11:15 a.m.
A live webstream of the championships will occur on www.NCAA.com from 10:00 a.m. until the conclusion of the awards ceremony.