NORMAL, Ill. – Senior distance runner Kevin Koski will make his first NCAA Cross Country Championships appearance on Monday, March 15 where he will race the men's 10K at 12:40 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Both the men's race and the women's race will be broadcast on ESPNU and the ESPN app with no commercials.
Koski earned the Missouri Valley Conference's auto-bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships with his individual MVC title in the men's 8K at the Valley Championships. Without regionals this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the individual conference winner from each gender earned the chance to compete at the NCAA Championships. Koski is only men's qualifier from the Valley, while Anneka Murrin from Loyola-Chicago will represent the MVC on the women's side.
Leading the Redbirds to their first MVC team title since 2002, Koski's Valley individual title was the first of his career. Koski won by over 11 seconds with a time of 24:21.1 to earn All-Valley honors and earn the title of MVC Athlete of the Year. The senior from Park Falls, Wisconsin has made great strides in his career, finishing 27th, 30th and 20th at his first three Valley Cross Country Championships before being crowned the champion for the 2020-21 season. Prior to the MVC Cross Country Championships, Koski opened the cross country season by placing fifth at the Lipscomb Winter Classic with a time of 24:23.6.
Koski is the first MVC men's runner to compete at the NCAA Championships since 2018 when Illinois State's Kyle Mattes and Bradley's team all qualified. Tomorrow, Koski will become the 24th Illinois State male student-athlete to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Fans can tune into ESPNU or the ESPN app to watch both races with no commercials or can follow live results here.
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