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ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's cross country team was selected to compete at the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, as the NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced the team and individual qualifiers for the 2009 Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Saturday at Highland Hills Golf Course in Highland Hills, Ohio.
RIT was an at-large selection, after finishing fourth out of 38 teams at the NCAA Regional Championships at Letchworth State Park on Saturday. It is the second time in the last four seasons that the Tigers were selected as a team to compete. In 2006, the Tigers finished 19th at the NCAA Champoionships. Seniors
Jared Burdick (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) and
Mike Hardbarger (Parkersburg, WV/Ritchie County) are the only two current Tigers who competed in that race. Burdick was 165th, while Hardbarger was 244th.
Burdick and Hardbarger, along with seniors
Mike Brindak (Syracuse, NY/Solvay), Nick Meeker, and
Nick Lowe (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport), junior
Zach Miller (Ironville, PA/Hempfield), and sophomore
Mike Kurvach (Victor, NY/Victor) will compete at the NCAA Championship meet for RIT, with sophomore
Mike Bradley (Penfield, NY/Penfield) serving as an alternate. All eight runners earned Empire 8 first or second team accolades this season.
RIT Head Coach Dave Warth believes his team is peaking and will put on its best performance of the season at nationals.
"I was pleased with consistency of our team and the way different guys step up each week, but our best race is still ahead. I think we'll do well at nationals," said Warth, who led the Tigers to the 2009 Empire 8 Championship.
Jesse Williamson (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./FDR) was RIT's last All-American, finishing 25th in 2006.
Senior
Jouhan Allende (Saco, ME/Thornton Academy) of the RIT women's cross country team will also compete.
Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top two, seven-person 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.
Baldwin-Wallace College will host the championships at Highland Hills Golf Course in Highland Hills, Ohio. The women’s race will begin at 11 a.m. followed by the men’s race at noon.