Williams receives NCAA automatic qualification
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Cross country
(NCAA announces D-III cross country field)
(Hanover College's official championship race website)
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- For the first time in five years, Fredonia State will have a runner in the NCAA men's cross country championship race.
Tom Williams (Queensbury), a junior, will run at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hanover, Ind., making him the first Fredonia State male since James Sweeney to compete nationally. Sweeny finished 75th in the 2003 race, also held at Hanover College.
When the NCAA picked its field Sunday, it awarded the Atlantic Region five team bids -- two automatic and three at-large bids -- and seven individial automatic qualifiers. Williams was the sixth fastest of the seven individuals.
Had the Atlantic Region sent only four teams, Williams would have missed the automatic qualification by three seconds. His time Saturday on St. Lawerence University's Ronald C. Hoffmann course was 25:23 for 8,000 meters.