SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Seniors Cat Dacey, Ben Neff and Ryan Russell of the Union College women's and men's cross country teams were selected to participate in the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, to be held on Saturday, November 23 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
 
Dacey qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual for the second straight season and will become the first female runner in Union cross country history to represent Union at multiple NCAA Cross Country Championships.
 
Russell and Neff are the fifth and sixth individual NCAA Championship qualifiers in Union men's cross country history. The pair, who are Union's first qualifiers since Justin Zorn '17 in 2016, join Stan Wiskoski '77 and Steve Jones '76 in the 1975 season as the only Union teammates to qualify in the same season.
 
All three runners qualified individually from the Mideast Region based on their finishes at Saturday's Mideast Regional Championship. The first seven student-athletes from each region who are not part of a qualifying team earned the honor of making it to the national meet.
 
Dacey has had an excellent season for Union so far, earning six top-10 finishes in seven races and finishing no lower than 14th in any race. She has posted four of the top-six 6K times in program history this season, including a program-record time of 21:30.7 at Saturday's NCAA Mideast Regional Championships that earned her a second-straight All-Region honor. Dacey enters her final collegiate cross country race with the top 10 6K times in program history, having completely rewritten the school record books over the last two seasons.
 
"Cat has had a fantastic season and was picked to be among the top individual runners in the region all along," said head coach Laura Nardelli. "Her proven ability to race alongside the top runners in the country this fall has helped to grow her confidence, enabling her to take more risks in competition.  We are very excited to see what she can do at the National Championships next week!"

Russell has also put together a fantastic senior season so far for the Garnet Chargers, placing in the top-10 in six of his seven races. He earned top honors at the Vassar Season Starter and the Cardinal Invitational as well as a second-place result at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational in his first three events of the year, and reset the school record with a time of 24:37.5 at the Connecticut College Invitational. He qualified for nationals with a 10th-place finish at Saturday's NCAA Mideast Regional Championships and boasts six of the top-eight 8K times in program history, including the top four finishes.

"Ryan made it clear from the outset that he was a force to be reckoned with this season," said Nardelli. "He is a tenacious competitor who doesn't set limits on his chances before the race is run. We fully expect him to meet with great success next weekend in Indiana!"

Neff has also run the best season of his collegiate career as a senior. He started the year with an eighth-place finish at the Vassar Season Starter and a fourth-place result at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational, and earned All-Liberty League second-team honors two weekends ago before picking up his first career All-Region recognition with a 27th-place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. He currently owns two of the top-10 8K times in program history, including his regional run last weekend.

"Ben has had a stellar career at Union, and he thinks of himself more as a track guy than a cross country type," Nardelli added. "I think he surprised himself a little with his success this season, but he trains hard, is a gritty competitor, and doesn't like to lose to anyone. The honor of being selected to compete at NCAAs is well-deserved!" 

One other former Union runner will be heading to the national championship as well, as recent graduate Charlie Alekson '24 is running as a graduate student at SUNY Brockport and qualified from the Niagara Region.
 
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is serving as host for the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by the men's race at noon Eastern. A live webstream of the championships will occur on NCAA.com beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern until the conclusion of the awards ceremony, and live results will also be available from Leone Timing.