Nov. 24, 2008

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Senior Pat Sovacool (Lakewood, Ohio) steps to the starting line Monday with the hope of winning a national championship. He is one of 245 runners who are competing at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.

Sovacool qualified for the meet by virtue of a 12th-place individual finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Region Cross Country meet on Nov. 15. The top two teams in each of nine regions, plus the top four runners not on those teams, were automatic qualifiers to the championship. The NCAA added 13 more teams via at-large invitations.

Sovacool ran the 10K course at Purdue in 31:46.6, just 40 seconds behind the winner, earning all-region honors in the process. He was a first-team All-MAC selection after a third-place finish (24:39.1) at the league championship. During he regular season, Sovacool won each of the first three races on the schedule -- the Dayton 5K, the Legends Invitational and the Tennessee Invitational.

The men's race will follow the women's at approximately 12:48 p.m. Both championship races will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network and streamed online via NCAA.com.

Information on the championship meet will be available as soon as possible at the conclusion of the race.