Nov. 20, 2008

Six Atlantic 10 student-athletes will compete at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country National Championship meet at Indiana State University on Nov. 24. Qualifying on the men's side are brothers Chris and Matt Lemon of Dayton, Richmond's Matt Llano and Kyle Murray of Saint Joseph's. The women's side is represented by Amanda Goetschius of Charlotte and George Washington's Megan Hogan.

Chris Lemon earned his automatic individual bid after finishing third overall at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 15. Matt, who placed 14th at the meet, had to wait for the official announcement to see if he would be one of the top four individual runners selected from the region. The sophomore's selection marks the first time any Dayton cross country runner has ever competed at the national meet.

Junior Matt Llano became the first Richmond men's runner in 29 years to clinch a spot in the NCAA Championship, thanks to his seventh-place finish on Nov. 15 at the Southeast Regional. The junior was the top A-10 finisher in the meet and placed second overall at the A-10 Championship on Nov. 1.

Saint Joseph's senior co-captain Kyle Murray qualified thanks to his performance on Nov. 15 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Murray was 13th in the Regional and is the first SJU qualifier since 2003 when Andre Laboy finished 76th at the NCAA meet.

On the women's side, Charlotte's Amanda Goetschius earned her spot after capturing the individual crown at the A-10 Championship with a time of 17:37, good for ninth in program history. The sophomore's time of 21:04 at last weekend's regional meet ranks fourth in Charlotte annals for a 6k course.

Hogan finished 19th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional last weekend with a time of 22:17, which was also the best-ever finish for a GW runner at the meet. The sophomore is the first runner from George Washington to qualify for NCAA Championship.

Last season, Duquesne senior Tom Slosky placed 199th and graduate student Rachel Papin of La Salle finished 115th at the NCAA's National Meet.


Indiana State University will host the Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The women's race will begin at approximately 12:08pm (EST), followed by the men's race at 12:48pm. Both championship races will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network and streamed online via NCAA.com. The top 40 finishers in each race will be tabbed USTFCCCA All-Americans.