Cross country snubbed from nationals selection

cross country, Joseph Marlitt, NCAA, Sports - By Joseph Marlitt on Thursday, November 17, 2011 - 04:11

In an era of collegiate sports, especially football, coming under heavy scrutiny for their selection process going into the national championships, the Poets feel they have received equivalent injustice.

The nationally ranked Poets’ Women Cross Country team failed to qualify for the NCAA Division-III Championships after they placed No. 3 in the West Regional out of 21 teams. The Poets will end the season ranked No. 32 in the nation, but not among the 32 teams that will be competing at the national tournament. It was a decision that has the team flabbergasted.
“It is a huge disappointment,” Head Coach Greg Philips said. “The NCAA selection committee made a big mistake in not selecting us to the National Championships.”

The Poets were one of 15 teams who had all five of their placing finishers receive All-Region Honors, and they are the only one of those 15 teams that will not be attending Nationals. There were 17 other teams who had less All-Region recognition who were selected for the national tournament.

It also spurned questions about judging results based on Region. Junior Christine Verduzco, who ran a time of 22:27.54 and placed 19th in the West Regional, would have placed second in the South/Southeast Regional with that same time.

“It was a total shock to us, and we’ve been raising heck with the selection committee,” Phillips said. “We’re a nationally ranked team, and yet the committee selected teams from other regions who are unranked. I don’t know if there is a west coast bias or what.”

The Poets finished behind Regional powerhouse Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who finished the meet with 39 points, and Willamette College who finished in second place at 131 points. The Poets were just 11 points shy of second place with 142 and were only an average of five seconds slower than Willamette.

Occidental placed fourth in the tournament with 155 points after coming into the tournament without being ranked nationally once this year.

“The Poets got railroaded, plain and simple,” Phillips said. “Who knows what that occurs behind closed doors among eight committee members.”

The turmoil overshadows the NCAA Regional race in which the Poets, who were No. 4 in the West going into the race, were able to use their depth to surpass previously nationally ranked No. 20 Lewis & Clark. The Poets were led by Verduzco, who ran a 22:27.54 and placed 19th overall at the meet. Verduzco improved on her time from the Regional last year by almost a minute where she placed 23rd overall and ran a time of 23:25.90.

The Poets’ senior Michele Callaway finished 27th overall with a time of 22:48.02 and senior Eva Aguilar finished two spots behind Callaway in the standings with a time of 22:50.90. The Poets as a team secured positions 19, 27, 29, 32, and 35.