Fresno State Athletics
Garcia to Compete at NCAA Championships
11/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 17, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - The NCAA Division I Track and Field Committee announced the individual qualifiers, a list including Fresno State's Erick Garcia, for the 2008 Division I Cross Country Championships Sunday.
Thirty-eight men, all among the top 25 finishers in their region, were selected as individual qualifiers. Of the 38, only two, Garcia and Eastern Washington's Paul Limpf, qualified from the West Regional. He is the only competitor from the WAC to qualify for the finals.
Garcia, a sophomore from Parlier, Calif., took 20th at the Regional hosted by Stanford to become eligible for the NCAA Championships. His 29:40.85 in the 10K set a new Bulldog record, besting Rich Lanford's 29:48 set in 1976 at the NCAA Championships. While his placing in Saturday's race made it very likely that he would be selected for the championship race, Garcia had to await the official selection Sunday night.
Garcia will be the seventh Bulldog to compete in the NCAA Championships, the first since Tim Holmes back-to-back appearances in 1979 and 1980.
"I'm very excited for Erick to be the first qualifier for the university in nearly 30 years," said cross country coach Sean McManus. "This accomplishment is due to the toughness, commitment and hard work he has put in throughout this season. He's setting a great example for the whole program about what you can do and it's rubbing off on the whole group."
Indiana State University will host the Championships, Monday, Nov. 24, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women's race will begin at approximately 9:08 a.m. Pacific time, followed by the men's race at 9:48 a.m. Both championship races will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network and streamed online via NCAA.com.
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