 Bowling Green, Ky. - After pacing their respective squads in each meet this season and winning individual Sun Belt Conference titles, Western Kentucky University cross country athletes Marion Kandie and Shadrack Kipchirchir received notice Sunday that they have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The meet will be hosted by Indiana State University at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on Monday, November 22nd.
 In Saturday's Southeast Regional meet, Kandie recorded an all-Region finish for the second consecutive year, clocking a 6,000-meter time of 20:30.3 to finish 11th. After at-large bids were announced Sunday, Kandie gained an individual berth by being the fourth-ranked individual from the region not on a qualifying team. Kandie narrowly missed a Championship bid in 2009 after turning in a 12th-place finish at the region meet.
 Running in his first Southeast Region meet, Kipchirchir navigated the 10,000-meter course at Louisiville's Sawyer Park in 30:30.0 to finish ninth and earn all-Region honors. Like Kandie, Kipchirchir was the fourth-ranked individual from the region not on a qualifying team to earn the national bid.
 This marks the second-straight year that WKU will have representation from both men's and women's squad. In 2009, Janet Jesang represented the Lady Toppers and earned her second-straight all-America cross country honor, while Patrick Cheptoek made the first of his two career national championship trips for the Hilltoppers. The only other time that WKU had representation from both genders at the NCAA Cross Country Championships was in 1991. At that meet, Sean Dollman won the men's NCAA individual title and Breeda Dennehy became the first Lady Topper in WKU history to earn all-America cross country honors.
 The women’s race will begin at 11:00 am (CT), followed by the men’s race at approximately 11:45 am (CT). A live webcast of the championships will be broadcast from 11:00am to 12:30 pm (CT), Monday, November 22, on NCAA.com.
- WKU -
