November 12, 1999

Release: Upon Receipt

NCAA BIDS ON THE LINE SATURDAY AT FURMAN

GREENVILLE, South Carolina -- Four NCAA team bids and eight individual automatic berths will be on the line Saturday when Furman hosts the NCAA Southeast Regional Cross Country Qualifier at the Furman University Golf Course. The top two teams in the men's and women's races will earn automatic invitations to the NCAA Championship Nov. 22 at Indiana, as will the top four individual finishers not on a qualifying team.

The Regional will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with the men's 10K competition. The Furman course record of 28:54 was set at the 1997 NCAA Championship by UCLA's Mebrahtom Keflezighi. One hour later, women on 39 collegiate teams will begin a 5K competition, racing against each other and gunning for the course mark of 16:29, set at the '97 National Championship by Villanova's Carrie Tollefson.

James Madison and North Carolina State were the men's automatic qualifiers a year ago and return to the meet this year, while N.C. State and Wake Forest secured the women's bids. The 1999 Regional will also feature Old Dominion, Clemson, Eastern Kentucky, Liberty, VCU, George Mason, William & Mary, North Carolina, Duke, Western Kentucky, and approximately 28 other schools from North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia.

Fans wanting to attend the Regional should enter Furman's campus through the front gate and follow signs to the NCAA Southeast Regional. Though the meet is run on the Furman Golf Course, access is through a gate near the Furman student center.