2010 NAIA Cross Country Championships to be held on Saturday
The 55th annual NAIA men’s and 31st annual women’s Cross Country National Championships will take place Saturday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash. The women’s 5k race is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. PST, followed by the men’s 8k race at 11:45 a.m. Concordia University (Ore.) and the Cascade Collegiate Conference are hosting the event.
The Concordia University men received an automatic berth, while two runners from the Bulldog women’s squad were selected as individual qualifiers for this year’s National Championships. On the men’s side, Concordia finished as the 2009 NAIA National Runner-up last year. Two Bulldogs earned All-American honors in what was the seventh NAIA National Runner-up finish for the Concordia cross country and track programs.
Dana Schmidt (Grundy Center, Iowa), who finished as an All-American last year, has led the way for Concordia this year. Schmidt captured the GPAC Championship and will look for another solid performance at Nationals. Colin Morrissey (Omaha, Neb.) finished second in the GPAC Championships. Morrissey missed the early part of the season due to injury but came on strong down the stretch. The Bulldogs will also hope for a strong performance from senior Tyson Billings. Billings (Valentine, Neb.) finished in the top 10 at the GPAC Championships and has been a consistent runner for Concordia this year.
Sarah Kortze and Alicia Marteney qualified individually for the Concordia women. Both finished in the top 10 at the GPAC Championships to qualify for the National Meet.
The 2010 NAIA National Championships kick off on Friday with the NAIA Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will honor the NAIA-Daktronics Scholar-Athletes, individuals/teams who have earned “Champions of Character” designation and conference Coaches-of-the-Year. The ceremony is slated to begin at 4:30 PST and conclude at 5:45 p.m. To access the free live stream of Friday’s ceremony, please visit the following link: http://corban.nmtvsports.com/(S(3qezeikb5hcz2cgdjhlja5ek))/sportzcastplayer.aspx