Aubol Joins Castillo with Individual Bid to NCAA Championships

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University runner Kevin Aubol (Jr., Ellensburg, WA/Ellensburg HS) has received an individual bid to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Winneconne, Wis., the NCAA announced today.

Aubol will join teammate Leo Castillo (Sr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS), who clinched an individual bid to the championships with his fourth place finish at the West Regional on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The Willamette women's cross country team earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships by placing second at the West Regional. Also attaining automatic bids from the West Region were the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) women and the Colorado College and Occidental College (Calif.) men.

The top two men's teams and women's teams in each of the eight regionals received automatic bids.

In addition, 16 men's teams and 16 women's teams received at-large bids after placing third, fourth or fifth in the standings of each regional. The only West Region team chosen for an at-large bid was the men's team from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Willamette, which placed fourth in the West Regional, did not receive a team at-large bid.

Willamette's top five finishers in the women's race at the West Regional were Michaela Freeby (Fr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) in ninth place, Kaitlin Greene (Sr., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) in 14th place and Theresa Edwards (Jr., Lake Tapps, WA/Bonney Lake HS) in 15th place, plus Amanda Tamanaha (Jr., Honolulu, HI/Saint Andrews Priory School) in 45th and Sarah McSweeney (Sr., Petaluma, CA/Casa Grande HS) in 48th.

Freeby, Greene and Edwards earned All-West Region honors for Willamette.

Willamette's All-West Region runners from the men's team were Castillo in fourth place, Aubol in 13th place, Ben Donovan (Sr., Minneapolis, MN/South HS) in 21st place, Kit Kingstad (So., Beaverton, OR/Beaverton HS) in 23rd place and Parker Bennett (So., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) in 34th place. The top 35 runners in each race earned All-Region status.

The top seven finishers in each regional who were not on teams chosen for the NCAA Championships earned individual bids. West Region individuals chosen from men's teams were Castillo and Aubol from Willamette, Alex Johnson and Anders Crabo from Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), Scott Gage from Linfield College, Alan Denadel from Pacific Lutheran University and Aaron Jenkins from Whitworth University.

West Region runners selected for individual bids for the women's championship race were Annie Lydens of Pomona-Pitzer, Illana Livstrom and Emily Thomas of Lewis & Clark College, Joy Shufeldt of Whitworth, Toccoa Kahovec of California Lutheran University, Emily Caneles from the University of Redlands and Emilie Gilbert of Whitman College.