Photo by: Raymond Tran
Ritter Earns Berth to NCAA XC Championships
11/12/2022 2:55:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly's Jake Ritter is headed to nationals for the first time in his career.
Ritter earned a berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, when the full field was announced Saturday afternoon during a live show on NCAA.com.
The news comes just a day after Ritter ran a personal-best 10K time of 28:43.3 to place 12th overall at the NCAA West Regionals, the highest individual finish at regionals by a Mustang since Swarnjit Boyal (10th) in 2017.
Ritter, who grabbed All-Region honors Friday, secured a berth to the national meet by being one of the top four finishers at the West Regional who did not belong to an automatic qualifying team or an at-large team.
This achievement is just the latest in a remarkable final season for Ritter. Two weeks ago at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course, he broke The Big West meet record en route to becoming the first athlete in conference history to capture three individual cross country titles. The performance allowed Cal Poly to raise The Big West trophy for the third time during Ritter's career.
The graduate student was also named The Big West Men's Athlete of the Year for a record third time.
The NCAA Championships are set for next Saturday, Nov. 19, at Oklahoma State's Greiner Family Cross Country Course. When Ritter takes the line at 8:10 a.m. PST for the start of the men's 10K, he will become the first athlete to represent Cal Poly at the national meet since 2018.
Ritter earned a berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, when the full field was announced Saturday afternoon during a live show on NCAA.com.
The news comes just a day after Ritter ran a personal-best 10K time of 28:43.3 to place 12th overall at the NCAA West Regionals, the highest individual finish at regionals by a Mustang since Swarnjit Boyal (10th) in 2017.
Ritter, who grabbed All-Region honors Friday, secured a berth to the national meet by being one of the top four finishers at the West Regional who did not belong to an automatic qualifying team or an at-large team.
This achievement is just the latest in a remarkable final season for Ritter. Two weeks ago at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course, he broke The Big West meet record en route to becoming the first athlete in conference history to capture three individual cross country titles. The performance allowed Cal Poly to raise The Big West trophy for the third time during Ritter's career.
The graduate student was also named The Big West Men's Athlete of the Year for a record third time.
The NCAA Championships are set for next Saturday, Nov. 19, at Oklahoma State's Greiner Family Cross Country Course. When Ritter takes the line at 8:10 a.m. PST for the start of the men's 10K, he will become the first athlete to represent Cal Poly at the national meet since 2018.
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
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