McKenna Earns At-Large Selection to 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships

Utah State [University] cross country senior captain Brian McKenna has the opportunity to finish his final year as an Aggie competing at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., Monday, Nov. 21, as the field was announced with the at-large selections by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee Sunday evening [Nov. 13].

This will be McKenna’s second time competing at nationals as he also qualified in 2009, finishing 69th out of 250 runners. Additionally, McKenna is only the fifth USU cross country runner to make it to the championships since 2000, joining Trevor Ball (2005), Tiffany Strickland (2005), Mike Nielson (2003) and Ashley Johnson (2003), and is the first two-time selection during that span.

"We are very excited for Brian to earn an at-large selection to the national meet, he is very deserving,” USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. “It is a tremendous honor for him to be able to run his final cross country race as an Aggie at the NCAA Championships. He has practiced and worked extremely hard not only this season, but throughout his entire career. For him to earn an at-large selection to the national meet twice in his career is a great reward and acknowledgment for all of his hard work and dedication to cross country."

McKenna received an at-large invitation to compete in the championships after finishing in 10th-place with a time of 30:43.3 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships Nov. 12 in Provo, Utah. Joining McKenna from the Mountain Region will be Cameron Levins and Nate Jewkese from Southern Utah as well as Elkana Rotich of Texas-El Paso.

Indiana State will host the Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. The men’s race will begin at approximately 10:08 a.m. MT, followed by the women’s race at approximately 10:58 a.m. A live webcast of the championships will be broadcast from 10 to 11:30 a.m., Monday, Nov. 21, on NCAA.com.  In addition, highlights from the championships will be included as part of the CBS NCAA Fall Seasonal Show scheduled to air Saturday, Dec. 18, from 11 a.m. to noon on CBS HD.

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Contact: Travis Hansen, USU Athletic Media Relations, (435) 797-8584, travishansen9@gmail.com