University of Minnesota Duluth fifth-year senior Franny Seidel has qualified for the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The championships will be held Saturday, November 23 at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, California. Sacramento Sports Commission and California Collegiate Athletic Association will serve as the host. The men's race will begin at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, followed by the women's race at 2:15 p.m. Eastern.

While the Bulldog program most recently sent a team to the national meet in 2022 and has sent eight teams to the meet since 2011, UMD has not had an individual qualify on her own since 2010, when Morgan Place finished fifth overall – the second highest finish by a Bulldog in championship history.

Seidel has had a banner year for UMD, and just this past weekend placed 12th in the NCAA Division II Central Region Championships in Joplin, Mo. with a time of 21:29.36 on her way to All-Region honors. Seidel ran a season-best time at the NSIC Championship meet on Oct. 26, a 21:12.1 time, good enough for eighth place.

In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA regional competitions that were held this past weekend.

Thirty-four teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top three, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the eight regions, for a total of 24 teams. Ten additional teams were selected at-large. A minimum of 24 additional individuals were selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. 

To take a look at past UMD NCAA Qualifiers, click here.