Three members of the Denison men's and women's cross country team will represent the University on Saturday in the 2008 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship from Hanover, Ind.  The three qualifiers, Katie Navarre (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Grant Russo (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Dee Salukombo (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), all will be making their first appearance at the national meet following outstanding individual performances at the regional championship.

Navarre led the Denison women's team to a 15th place finish at the regional championship and her time of 22:01.39 placed her third out of 233 runners.  Her finish was the best by a Denison female runner in school history, surpassing Elaine Binkley's fifth place showing in 2004.

The men's team was led by Russo who took 12th place out of 240 runners with a time of 25:25.84.  Russo learned his fate for the national championship at the regional meet on Saturday but Salukombo was forced to wait until Sunday afternoon when the NCAA selection committee announced their at-large team selections.

After their fifth place finish at the regional Case Western Reserve as awarded one of the at-large slots designated by the NCAA.  That opened the door for Salukombo's advancement to nationals.  He placed 22nd overall with a time of 25:42.35.

Hanover College will be the host of the championship meet.  Each race will include the top 240 runners representing all of Division III.  The men's race will begin at 11 a.m. with the women's race following at noon.  More information on the championship meet can be found at the link below.

NCAA Championship Home Page