Nov. 14, 2005
CHAMPAIGN, ILL - The NCAA announced Sunday that Illinois Sophomore Dan Stock alongside 24 others had qualified for an individual bid to the NCAA Championship.
With a 10K time of 31:30, the Orange and Blue member led the Illini to a 7th place team finish at the Regional meet, competing amongst some of the best teams in the region, including Minnesota, Kansas, and winner, Oklahoma State. All three teams earned automatic or at-large bids to the NCAA Team Championship.
Stock qualifies for the championship under NCAA guidelines for the top-25 runners not from a qualifying team. Stock was amongst the top runners from the Midwest region. Teammate Jason Bill qualified last year for the individual competition.
Other qualifying individual runners from the Midwest region include Kiel Uhl (Iowa St.), Matt Noonan (Missouri), and Joe Byrne (Southern Ill.).
After Saturday's meet, Head Coach Wendel McRaven was optimistic about Dan's chances for qualifying.
"Here's a guy, a walk-on who qualifies individually for nationals," Head Coach Wendel McRaven said. "Dan's gotten better each week he's raced, and he races with a lot of confidence and poise. He's just starting to scratch the surface, and I'm excited to see how he'll continue to progress this season and in seasons to come."
The sophomore runner has emerged as a leader for Illinois this season, triumphing through much adversity. Even a side-lining injury at Iowa proved nothing could slow down Stock, after returning to the season with an impressive showing at the Pre-National meet, finishing first for Illinois with an 8K time of 24:52.
Indiana State University will host the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, November 21, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, Terre Haute, Indiana. The men's race will begin at noon Eastern time followed by the women's race at 1:15 p.m. All results can be found at ncaasports.org, and fightingillini.com following the completion of the meet.
