Men, Women advance to NCAA’s

The MSU men’s cross country team recorded its best team finish in school history at Sunday’s NCAA Great Lakes Regional, finishing second and automatically qualifying for this year’s NCAA Championships.

It marks MSU’s 39th NCAA bid.

Junior Patrick Grosskopf led the Spartans with a time of 31:12:98, finishing fifth overall — the best MSU individual finish since 1995.

For women — who earned an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament — junior Emily MacLeod finished first overall with time of 20:42:70 to become just the fourth Spartan runner to place first at the NCAA Regionals.

Earning All-Region honors for the men were Grosskopf, junior Spencer Beatty and McAlary, while MacLeod, junior Carlie Green and sophomore Rebekah Smeltzer also were recognized.

The 2009 NCAA Championships will be Nov. 23 at Indiana State.The men’s race will begin at approximately 12:08 p.m., while the women will start at 12:58 p.m.