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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The No. 19 Virginia men’s cross country team earned an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, as announced Sunday by the NCAA Committee. The national meet is set for Monday, Nov. 23 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The men’s 10k race will begin at approximately 12:08 p.m., followed by the women’s 6k race at approximately 12:58 p.m. Both championship races will be broadcast live on Versus Network and streamed online via NCAA.com.

The men’s team earned an at-large bid after finishing fifth at the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday. The Cavaliers won the Lou Onesty, George Mason and Panorama Farms Invitationals this season, before finishing runner-up at the ACC Championships.

This will mark the fifth-straight season, and sixth of the last seven, that the Cavaliers will compete at NCAAs. At last year’s championships, the Cavaliers finished 14th behind a 26th-place finish by junior All-American Emil Heineking.

Virginia’s No. 19 women will also compete at this year’s NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers finished 26th a year ago and are making their fourth trip in the past five years to Nationals. Virginia finished runner-up to Duke at Regionals on Saturday to earn an automatic bid for the second-straight season.

This will mark the fourth-time in UVa history (2005, 06, 08) that both the men’s and women’s program will compete at the NCAA Championships in the same season.

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