Seniors Tim Testa and Muhajid Hassaballa both raced to top 10 individual finishes at the South Central Regional Meet Saturday to help the Pittsburg State University men’s cross country team earn a berth to the 2009 NCAA-II National Championships.
The Gorillas finished third in the meet with 86 team points. Pitt State, along with regional champion Missouri Southern (56 pts.) and runner-up Southwest Baptist (81 pts.), earned berths to nationals.
Testa finished sixth overall in the 10-kilometer race, crossing the finish line in 31 minutes, 38.69 seconds. Hassaballa followed closely behind in eighth place with a time of 31:42.68.
Senior Cliff Miles finished 17th (32:17.00), while freshman Adam Volkert placed 23rd (32:31.30) and sophomore Matt Haffner finished 32nd (32:52.89) to complete Pitt State's top five.
Women fall short
The Pittsburg State University women’s cross country team came up just short in its bid to qualify for a repeat trip to the NCAA-II National Championships Saturday.
The Gorillas placed fourth overall at the South Central Regional Meet.
Missouri Southern won the meet with a low 18 points, while Dallas Baptist secured the second and final team berth to nationals with 84 points in a second-place showing. Truman finished with 97 points, while the Gorillas scored 107 points.
Junior Jennifer Butler earned All-Region honors with an 11th-place effort, crossing the finish line in the six-kilometer race in 22 minutes, 12.22 seconds.
Junior Brittney Graff finished 17th in 22:42.13, while Caitlin Laskowski finished 20th in 22:44.02.
ABILENE, Texas —
