FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Monday, Nov. 14, 2005)

WESLEYAN MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY HEADED TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME
(Owen Kiely '06 Wins New England Title - Ellen Davis '07 Qualifies as Individual for the Women)

 

         Placing second in a field of 43 teams with senior Owen Kiely leading the way as individual champion, the Wesleyan men's cross country team earned its first ever bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.  The top three teams at the New England meet earned a spot at Nationals.
      Kiely became the second Wesleyan male to win a regional title as Joe Mahoney '94 was the 1992 and 1993 New England Division III champion.  Kiely finished ahead of Williams' Neal Holtschulte, who was national runner-up in 2004.  Kiely's margin of victory was 8.6 seconds.  Also earning all-New England Division III honors for Wesleyan were grad student Weston Fuhrman, who placed 11th ; junior Jon King, who finished 15th ; and junior Mike Brady, who came in 32nd.  In all, 303 runners competed in the event at Veterans Golf Course in Springfield, Mass., Saturday, Nov. 12.
      On the women's side, junior Ellen Davis was one of seven individuals to receive a bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.  The top five teams earned spots at Nationals while the top seven runners not on those five teams also go to the NCAAs.  Davis was the fourth of those seven runners as she placed seventh of 281 competitors.  She will make her second trip to Nationals as she was part of the Wesleyan women's team that qualified a year ago by placing fifth in the region.  At the 2004 NCAAs, Davis placed 54th of 215 entrants.
     The 2005 NCAA Division III Championship is being hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday, Nov. 19.  The men's race covers 8,000 meters while the women's event is 6,000 meters.

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