Men's Cross Country Set to Compete at 2013 NCAA National Championship this Saturday in Spokane
Ravens make national finals in just their second season of varsity competition
RINDGE, N.H. (November 21, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s cross country team is gearing up for the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship race this Saturday in Spokane, Wash.
The 10,000-meter event will begin at 2:30 p.m. (ET) / 11:30 a.m. (PT) on the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex. Thirty-two men’s teams will be vying for the national title, while the top-40 in the individual standings will earn All-America honors.
Live video coverage of the national championship race can be viewed online at NCAA.com by clicking on the following link http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2013/11/23
Franklin Pierce’s run to the national finals is even more impressive considering the Ravens are competing in just their second season as a varsity program in 2013. The program was reinstituted to the varsity level prior to the 2012 campaign, and after a solid debut that year, Franklin Pierce exploded in 2013 by winning its first three races of the season, including on home soil in the inaugural Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup on Sept. 14.
Franklin Pierce’s outstanding start propelled the Ravens to a No. 19 national ranking in United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top-25 Poll in mid-October.
The Ravens continued turning in the inspiring performances down the stretch, including placing second at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in late-October, and another runner-up placing at the NCAA East Regional Championship two weeks ago. The top-three finish at the regional allowed the Ravens to make the flight out to Spokane this weekend.
Franklin Pierce’s group of seven competitors in this weekend’s competition includes junior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.), sophomore Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.), freshman B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.), freshman Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda), sophomore Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.), junior Isaac Fithian (Kingston, N.H.), and freshman Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.).
Gisore, Smith, and Rugabirwa each earned All-East Region honors two weeks ago by placing among the top-20 at the regional championship. Gisore was seventh out of 185 competitors in the race, while Smith and Rugabirwa followed in 13th and 17th place, respectively.
Prior to that, Gisore and Rugabirwa were each named to the All-NE-10 First-Team by finishing among the top-six at the conference championship, while Smith, Minors, and Ham each racked up third-team honors with 18th, 20th, and 21st place finishes.
The Ravens have been guided this season by the impressive leadership of head coach Zach Emerson. Franklin Pierce Cross Country & Track & Field has grown tremendously under his watch the first two seasons, with each sport producing a top-five finish at a conference championship (men’s cross country 2nd in 2013; men’s outdoor track & field 5th in 2013), and competitors in each sport (including both male & female) earning either all-conference or all-region accolades.
Franklin Pierce Athletics will be recapping all the action this Saturday following the race, and will catch up with the competitors next week to get their thoughts on the championship competition.
For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s cross country, please visit the team’s page at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu. To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)