KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Five individuals from the TranSouth Conference, along with the Union University women's team have qualified for the 2008 NAIA Cross Country National Championship in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The individuals include Kayla Holcomb, Tuesdae Rowland, Heather Moore, Haleigh Moore, from Blue Mountain (Miss.) College and Emily Sexton from Lyon (Ark.) College.  

For Union's women, this is the third straight team qualification to the NAIA Nationals.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the qualifiers for the 53rd Annual Men's and 29th Annual Women's NAIA Cross Country National Championships. The races will be held at Dr. Wayne E. Dannehl Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 22, 2008. The women's race will start at 10:30 a.m. (CST) while the men's starts at 11:45 a.m. (CST).

This year's women's 5K race will feature 32 teams, including 25 conferences/independents/unaffiliated champions and seven at-large bids and 112 individual qualifiers. Cedarville (Ohio) held the top spot in nine of the 11 Coaches' Top 25 Polls this season and is the favorite to capture the team title. Azusa Pacific (Calif.) was ranked No. 1 twice this year and will challenge for the title. APU will be led by defending NAIA Individual National Champion, Jaime Canterbury. Simon Fraser (B.C.), who claimed the last five championships, received an at-large berth and will aim for its 11th national title in school history. 

Kenosha, the nation's only pure cross country courses with its long-standing history as a community that embraces the sport, has hosted 27 NAIA National Championship Cross Country events from 1976 to 1979, 1981 to 2002 and 2007.

#TRANSOUTH#