Del Fava Qualifies For Nationals

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced their selections for participation in the cross country national championship. The University at Albany will send Silvia Del Fava to compete in the women’s 6K race in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 23. Del Fava is UAlbany's first ever Division I national qualifier.

Del Fava placed 10th overall at the Northeast Regional Championship on Friday, securing the fourth individual berth into the national meet. Her time of 20:24.0 for 6K narrowly surpassed the school record set by her teammate, Brittney Lane, a year ago at this same meet. Lane was also in contention for a spot in the national championship, but ultimately was not selected.

“Greedily, we would have liked to have both girls qualify,” said head coach Matt Jones, “but we’re obviously very excited for Silvia.”

The Northeast will sent four teams to the national meet. Providence and Dartmouth qualified automatically while Cornell and Syracuse earned at-large bids. Boston College was also in play for an at-large bid, but fell short. Had Boston College been selected, Lane would have joined Del Fava as a qualifier.

Del Fava will accompany Columbia’s Waverly Neer, Iona’s Kate Avery, and Boston College’s Liv Westphal as individual qualifiers representing the Northeast region.

Thirty-one teams qualified either automatically or with at-large bids for both the men’s and women’s races. An additional 38 individual runners will participate in the race from teams who did not qualify. The men’s 10K race kicks off at noon Eastern on Saturday, November 23, followed by the women’s race at 1:15 p.m.

Del Fava has competed on the national championship course before, having participated with the women’s team at the Pre-National Invitational in October. There, Del Fava finished seventh overall in the 6K White race, and second on the team behind Lane, with a time of 20:54.00.

Indiana State University will play host to the championship meet. A live webcast of the event will be broadcast on race day from noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern on ncaa.com.