WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Junior Lee Cattanach (New London) has become the first Eastern Connecticut State University men's cross country runner to qualify for national competition in 38 years after placing 20th overall in a field of 373 runners Saturday at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Cross Country Championships, hosted by Williams College at Mount Greylock Regional High School.
Cattanach, who missed all of last season due to injury and the first half of this year in rehabilitation, was the third of seven individuals to qualify on an at-large basis from the New England regionals for this coming Saturday's NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. He was timed in 25:57 over the 8,000 meter course – an improvement of 27 over his winning time on this course at the New England Alliance Championships two weeks ago.
The first seven runners from each regional meet not associated with an institution which qualified on a team basis qualified for the nationals, which are scheduled to being at 11 a.m. Eastern time and are hosted by Wilmington College at the Golf Center at King's Island in Mason, Ohio. In addition to their two automatic team qualifiers (Colby College and Amherst College), the New England region will be additionally represented by four at-large teams (MIT, Williams College, Middlebury College and Tufts University) at the nationals.
A total of only 65 seconds separated the first and last national qualifiers at the New England Regional. Cattanach was the second New England qualifier from a state institution and one of only three overall.
In addition to becoming the only national qualifier from the New England Alliance (Little East Conference and Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference), Cattanach becomes the program's first representative to reach national competition on an individual basis since E-Club Hall of Famer Tim Quinn in 1976. In 1975, Quinn helped the Warriors qualify for the only time ever on a team basis, then as the team's only senior in 1976, qualified for the national meet at Cleveland with a tenth-place finish at the Eastern Championships.
Sixteen teams qualified automatically for the nationals and 16 on an at-large basis. A total of 280 individuals will compete.
The Eastern men finished 35th overall among 54 teams. Behind Cattanach were freshman Cooper Goslin (South Windsor), seniors Kyle Shaw (Lebanon) and Michael Dolde (East Hampton), and sophomores Joe Rainville (Montville),
Michael Underwood (Farmington) and Christopher Armstrong (Bolton). Goslin was 180th (28:40), Shaw 260th (29:58), Dolde 283rd (30:26), Rainville 310th (31:003), Underwood 312th (31:11) and Armstrong 317th (31:26.
