INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Committee has announced the participants for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA regional competitions that were held this weekend.
Trine University men's cross country received one individual qualifier in sophomore Ryan Hoopingarner. Individual qualifiers were selected from each region based on the top seven runners who are not attached to a team that received the region's automatic bid or an at-large bid into the NCAA DIII Championships. Hoopingarner becomes the first men's cross country student-athlete to qualify for the National Championship meet since Jack Beakas and Levi Neuzerling earned the right to compete for a national title in 2019.
The sophomore from Mishawaka, Indiana recorded a ninth-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional on Saturday to put himself in a great position to qualify for a national championship. He broke his own school record with a time of 24:09.7 and has taken nearly one minute and 30 seconds off his personal best time coming into the season.
The NCAA DIII Men's Cross Country Championships take place on Saturday, November 18 at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania. The event is hosted by Dickinson College. The men's race begins at 11 a.m. and can be seen on www.ncaa.com.