McSolla Selected to Run at NCAA Division III Championships

Junior Dan McSolla is the first Wentworth cross country runner to be selected to participate at the NCAA Division III Championships
Junior Dan McSolla is the first Wentworth cross country runner to be selected to participate at the NCAA Division III Championships

BOSTON, Mass. – After a 14th-place finish at Saturday's NCAA New England Regional, junior Dan McSolla (Bridgewater, Mass.) has been selected to compete as an individual runner at the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship. The race will be held on Saturday, November 19, at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., beginning at Noon.

McSolla was one of 56 individual runners chosen from across eight regions based on his finish. The top two teams from each region's regional meet earn a berth into national championship with 16 teams selected as at-large teams to round out the 32-team field. In order to qualify as an individual, a runner must be among the top seven regional finishers after the qualifying teams have been placed in the field.

In his six races prior to yesterday's regional the three-time All-Commonwealth Coast Conference selection placed no lower than third including posting a first-place finish at the Bowdoin Invitational on Sept. 24. His second-place finish at the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship helped lead the Leopards to their second straight conference championship.

McSolla's regional performance was the best of his career as he finished with a time of 25:05.91 and helped his team to its best finish in the three-year varsity existence of the program as the Black & Gold finished 14th.