Nov. 12, 2016
Sara Tsai is headed to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Vanderbilt sophomore received an at-large bid to the national meet on Saturday, when the NCAA Men’s and Women’s TF/XC Committee revealed the team and individual qualifiers for the national event.
Tsai, who has paced the Commodores in all five races this season, posted a sixth-place finish at Saturday’s NCAA South Regional with a time of 20:16.2. She narrowly missed becoming an automatic qualifier for the NCAA meet, but she positioned herself to earn the at-large bid from the committee on Saturday. Tsai will represent the Commodores, and the South Region, at the championships on Nov. 19.
“This will be a great experience for Sara,” said head coach Steve Keith. “Having run this meet last year with the team, she knows what she’s getting into and I believe she is ready.”
Tsai’s at-large bid means that Vanderbilt will be represented at the national meet for the seventh straight year. (The Commodores qualified as a team in each of the past five seasons and had individual representation the year prior to that).
Thirty-one teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large.
Thirty-eight individuals were selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual qualifiers finished in the top 25 in their regions.
Indiana State University will host the championships, Saturday, Nov. 19, at LaVern Gibson Championship Course at Wabash Valley Family Sport Center located in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women’s race will begin at 10 a.m. (CT), followed by the men’s race. A live webcast of the championships will be broadcast on NCAA.com, beginning at 10 a.m. (CT)
