Willamette Men's Team Receives At-Large Bid to NCAA Championships

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University men's cross country team has received an at-large bid to compete at the 2015 NCAAA Division III Cross Country Championships. The NCAA announced the 16 men's teams selected for at-large bids today, completing the 32-team field. In addition, individual automatic bids were announced.

Willamette's men will join the Bearcat women's team at the NCAA Championships. The Willamette women won their second consecutive NCAA West Regional title on Saturday, Nov. 14 and received a team automatic to next weekend's championships.

It is the first team bid for the Willamette men since 2010, when the Bearcats took 23rd place at the NCAA Championships. WU was represented by at least one men's runner at the NCAA Championships from 2011 to 2014.

This year's 8-kilometer men's championship race and 6-kilometer women's race are set for Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. CST/9 a.m. PST, and will be followed by the men's race at 12 p.m. CST/10 a.m. PST.

Running for the Willamette men's team at the NCAA West Regional were Nathan Conrad (Sr., Bothell, WA/Bothell HS), Yonny Castillo (Sr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS), Patrick Loftus (So., Healdsburg, CA/Sonoma Academy), Jacob Shafi (Sr., (Sr., Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley HS), Hunter Matthies (Sr., Moran, WY/Jackson Hole HS), Keith Carlson (Fr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), and Jack Kobylka (So., Napa, CA/Vintage HS).

Willamette took third place in the teams standings at the West Regional. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.), which won the West Regional title, and Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), which placed second, earned team automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Occidental College, the fourth place team at the West Regional, did not receive an at-large bid.

The top seven finishers in each regional who were not on teams selected for the NCAA Championships received individual automatic bids to compete.

Individuals qualifying from the West Regional were Tyler Shipley from University of Puget Sound, Brad Hodkinson from Pacific Lutheran University, Geremia Lizier-Zmudzinski from Puget Sound, Chris Reid of Chapman University (Calif.), Christopher MacMurray of Whitworth University, Aditya Bhagavathi from Caltech, and Tommy Warfel from Occidental.