BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University sophomore Naomi Cass will head to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships held later this week in Newville, Pennsylvania.

The NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee announced the participants for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships on Sunday afternoon. In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA regional competitions that was held this weekend.

Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top seven-person team automatically qualified from each of the ten regions, for a total of ten teams. Twenty-two additional teams were selected at-large. Seventy individuals, the first seven student-athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship.

Cass placed tenth out of a field of 231 runners at the NCAA Division III East Region Cross Country Championships held on Saturday at Hopkinton State Fair Grounds. The Westport, Massachusetts native covered the six-kilometer course in a time of 22:23.42 as she garnered All-East Region honors.

Cass is the first BSU women's cross country student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA championships since BSU Hall of Famer Molly Rouillard in 2012 and just the third this century (Nicole Mauro, 2007).

Dickinson College is hosting the championships on Saturday, November 18th at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania. The men’s race will begin at 11 a.m. EST, followed by the women’s race at noon.

2023 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships Starting Box Assignments (PDF)