INDIANAPOLIS – Washington and Lee University's men's and women's cross country teams have both earned team qualifications for the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, marking the first time in the institution's history that both programs will compete at nationals in the same year.
The championships will take place on Saturday, November 23, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by the men's race at noon Eastern.
Path to Qualification
W&L Women's Team
For the second time in program history, the No. 12-ranked Washington and Lee women's cross country team captured the NCAA Division III South Regional Championship on November 16, securing an automatic bid to the national stage. This will be the program's second NCAA Championship appearance, five years after their first regional title and qualification in 2019, where the Generals finished 29th overall. Katie Harris '21 led the team in that race, placing 155th out of 277 runners with a time of 23:13.80.
This past weekend, sophomore Olivia Warr claimed the individual regional title, finishing in 21:34.7, becoming W&L's first individual regional champion since Josephine Schaeffer '96, who won the title in 1992, 1993, and 1995. For the first time in program history, all seven competing Generals earned All-Region honors by finishing in the top 35. Additionally, senior Kristen Clodgo became only the fourth General to earn All-Region recognition in all four years of her career.
W&L's highest individual finisher at the NCAA Championships remains Josephine Schaeffer, who capped her freshman season in 1992 by finishing 12th at Nationals (then a 5k event) and went on to place eighth as a sophomore and ninth as a senior.
2024 Regional Championship Release | 2019 National Championship Release | Women's Program Championship History | Women's Program Individual Qualifiers
W&L Men's Team
For the second straight year, the No. 15-ranked Washington and Lee University men's cross country team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, marking the program's fifth appearance in history. The Generals secured their qualification after a third-place finish at the NCAA South Regional Championships on November 16 and a historic regular season that included an upset victory over then-No. 6 Johns Hopkins in October.
At the regional championship, W&L scored 59 points, finishing just behind No. 12 Lynchburg (51 points) and No. 23 Emory (56 points) in a race decided by only eight points. Keaton Rush (4th), Row Sterne (5th), and Robert Cooper (6th) led the Generals with top-10 finishes, each completing the 8K course in under 25:01. Rush, Sterne, Cooper, Thomas Franklin, Jackson Kodenski, and William Dunaway earned All-Region honors for placing in the top 35.
The Generals' best team finish at the NCAA Championships came in 1995, when they placed 21st. Angus McBryde holds the program's top individual performance, finishing 10th at the 1983 championships with a time of 24:19 to become W&L's first All-American.
2024 Regional Championship Release | 2023 National Championship Release | Men's Program Championship History | Men's Program Individual Qualifiers
Historic Achievement
W&L becomes one of only a handful of Division III institutions to have both cross country programs represented at the 2024 NCAA DIII Championships. The Generals were selected as part of the field of 32 men's and 32 women's teams, which includes 10 automatic qualifiers from regional championships and 22 at-large selections.
Of the 64 teams awarded a box on race day, Washington and Lee joins 18 other programs with both men's and women's teams qualifying for the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. These institutions are Amherst, Calvin, Carnegie Mellon, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Emory, George Fox, Johns Hopkins, Lynchburg, Middlebury, Pomona-Pitzer, St. Olaf, SUNY Geneseo, Tufts, Washington and Lee, Washington University in St. Louis, Williams, Wesleyan (Conn.), Wartburg, and Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Championship Information
- Location: LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, Terre Haute, Indiana
- Date: Saturday, November 23
- Times: Women's race at 11 a.m. EST, Men's race at noon EST
- Broadcast: Live coverage of the event will be available on NCAA.com, beginning at 11 a.m. EST and continuing through the awards ceremony.
South Region VII Individual Qualifiers
In addition to the six programs who qualified, the South Region VII (South) will send 14 individual qualifiers to the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. On the women's side, Anna Ayers (Berry), Lily Hoffman (Mary Washington), Kate Inglis (Catholic), Taylor Myers (Bridgewater, Va.), Anna Rose (Berry), Emily Smeds (Bridgewater, Va.), and Mackenzie Young (Bridgewater, Va.) earned their spots.
For the men, Zachary Benner (Oglethorpe), Troy Blackwood (Berry), Ashton Deriso (Oglethorpe), Sawyer Helms (Pfeiffer), Cannon Powell (Pfeiffer), Kaelen Ruder (Southern Virginia), and Tucker Wright (Berry) qualified. These individuals represent the region's top performers not competing as part of a team.
A full preview for both the men's and women's championship events will be released on Generalssports.com on Thursday afternoon.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
