Hanover to host 2008 NCAA III Championships
Hanover College will host the 2008 NCAA Division III national cross country championships. The event will be held Saturday, Nov. 22, at the L.S. Ayres Athletic Complex.

Each of the two championship races will include 280 runners from colleges and universities across the U.S. The men's eight-kilometer race will begin at 11 a.m. The women's six-kilometer event will start at noon.

Each of the 2008 championship races will include 32 teams, with seven runners per squad, and 56 individuals from additional schools.

The 32 teams in each race will include 16 teams, two from each of eight regions, which automatically qualify in regional events. Also, 16 at-large teams will be selected by the NCAA national committee from among the top five teams in each regional meet.

The top seven individual competitors in each regional race, not associated with a qualifying team, also will earn a place in the championship field.

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Regionals Site

The 2008 NCAA Division III finales mark the second time Hanover College has hosted the national championships. Hanover hosted the 2003 event, with Middlebury College (Vt.) winning the women's title and Calvin College (Mich.) earning the men's championship.

The 2003 event also 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.