KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The 36-team, 96-individual championship field has been announced for the 65th Annual NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Championship that will be held on April 9. The event will take place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
After winning its first-ever Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, No. 8-ranked Lewis-Clark State College grabbed the conference’s automatic qualifier. Three CCC teams will join the Warriors in Iowa as No. 13-ranked Oregon Tech, No. 15-ranked College of Idaho and No. 18-ranked Northwest University all grabbed at-large berths.
Additionally, two CCC individual student-athletes qualified for the event, including Corban University’s Robert Swoboda and Eastern Oregon University’s Travis Running.
NAIA Championship Meet Notes
- This is the second year that the championship will be hosted in Cedar Rapids. Mount Mercy University (Iowa) serves as the host for the national championship.
- The field is made up of 24 automatic qualifiers, one host berth and 10 at-large berths. A team can automatically qualify by winning the conference championship meet or by being the meet runner-up (for a conference with more than one automatic qualifier).
- Mount Mercy (Iowa) received the host berth.
- The 10 at-large berths were determined by a selection committee.
- In addition to the team qualifiers and at-large bids, 96 athletes will compete as individual qualifiers.
- The 2019 men's cross country national champions, Oklahoma City, returns to the championship this year.
- The race will be broadcast for the first time this year on the NAIA Network. To access the live video stream and purchase a pass CLICK HERE