University of Connecticut Athletics
Wilson Qualifies for NCAA Championship
11/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
BOSTON, MA (Nov. 10, 2001) -- For the third time in as many meets this season, senior All-American and 2001 BIG EAST Champion (West Haven, CT) claimed an individual victory, running 29:44.8 to edge Providence’s Hamish Thorpe by a little more than a second to take first at the NCAA District 1 Qualifier Saturday afternoon in Boston. As a team, UConn finished 14th with 385 points, with the top two teams receiving automatic berths to the NCAA Championship.
By virtue of his first-place finish, Wilson earned All-District honors and qualified to compete at the NCAA Championship, where he earned All-America honors last season with a 40th-place finish. In addition to the seven runners from the two qualifying teams, the top four runners who are not members of one of the qualifying teams move on to the championship, which will be held at Furman University on Nov. 19.
Providence and Dartmouth garnered the two automatic team berths, finishing first and second with 59 and 111 points, respectively.
Also placing in the top 50 for UConn were sophomore Eric Fleckenstein (Port Jefferson, NY), who finished 46th with a time of 31:17.6, and junior Mike Hall (Washington, CT), who followed Fleckenstein at 47th with 31:20.1. Sophomore Alex Hudimatch (Watertown, CT), with a 138th-place finish, and junior (Randolph, NJ), with a 153rd-place finish, rounded out the Husky point scorers.
Aside from Wilson, the NCAA District 1 Qualifier was the last meet of the season for the University of Connecticut men’s cross country team. The indoor track and field season starts Dec. 1 at the Brown Invitational.
