SOU men, three women head to NAIA Cross Country Championships

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Courtesy of Sports Information Desk

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – There were no big surprises when the fields for the NAIA men’s and women’s cross country national championships were announced Monday, and that was a good thing for Southern Oregon.

The top-ranked Raiders headline the men’s field and will go in as the favorite for the second straight year, and the Raider women received the three individual bids they were hoping for, too.

Alexandra Rudd, Summer Cano and Rebecca Lupescu qualified for the spots by placing in the top-15 overall at the Cascade Conference Championships and top-five among individuals not going to nationals with a qualifying team. College of Idaho won the meet and got the CCC’s automatic bid, and Northwest Christian’s team at-large berth made the inclusion of SOU’s runners official.

The meet will be held in Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 23. The fields are made up of 32 teams on both sides with 103 individual women qualifiers and 97 men.

The SOU men finished second last year, third in 2011 and were national champions in 2010. The Raider women are up from just one qualifier in 2012.

British Columbia is the women’s defending champion and ranked No. 1 again.

The CCC’s Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho were awarded at-large bids to the men’s race.