Hanover College has been selected to host the 2013 NCAA Division III cross country national championships. The event will be held Saturday, November 23, 2012, at the L.S. Ayres Athletic Complex.
The 2013 event marks the third time Hanover has been awarded the NCAA III national championships. Hanover also hosted the men’s and women’s finales in 2003 and 2008.
The two championship races will each include 280 runners from colleges and universities across the U.S. The women’s six-kilometer race will begin at 11 a.m. The men’s eight-kilometer event will start at noon.
Each race will include 32 teams, with seven runners per squad. These 32 teams will feature two from each of the NCAA’s eight regions - which automatically qualify in regional events - and 16 at-large teams selected by the NCAA national committee.
The top seven individual competitors in each regional race who are not associated with a qualifying team, also will earn a place in the championship field, as well as 56 individuals from additional schools.
The 2003 championships at Hanover marked the first time in NCAA history that athletes from the same school captured individual titles. Wartburg College (Iowa) runners Missy Buttry and Josh Moen each won their respective events.
Calvin College (Mich.) earned the men's championship that fall with 48 points, while Middlebury College (Vt.) won the women's team title with 135 points.
With 179 points, Middlebury also captured the women’s team crown on Hanover’s course in 2008, while Cortland State University (N.Y.) won the men’s championship with 80 points.
Buttry continues to hold the women’s individual course record at the Ayres Complex. Her six-kilometer time of 20.00.2 has stood since she earned the 2003 title.
Peter Kosgei from Hamilton College (N.Y.) set Hanover’s eight-kilometer record of 24:22.1 in his 2008 championship run.