Kyle King Qualifies For National Title Race
11/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 18, 2002
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - The NCAA announced the at-large bids to the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships today. The teams from Texas A&M and Texas each earned bids; therefore, junior Kyle King was the fourth individual qualifier from the South Central Regional. King will represent Baylor at the NCAA Championships on Monday, Nov. 25 at the LaVern Gibson Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Indiana State is hosting the event.
King, a native of Sulphur Springs, Texas, took 17th at the South Central Regional on Saturday, running the 10,000-meter course in 31:14. With both Texas A&M and Texas earning at-large bids to the championships, King is the fourth qualifying individual from the region. The other qualifiers are Texas-Pan American's Westly Keating (3rd; 29:58), Brent Corbitt of Arkansas-Little Rock (9th; 30:38) and Mike Olaque of Houston (14th; 31:06).
A transfer from North Texas, King paced the Baylor squad in three races this season. Along with being the first Bear to finish at the regional meet, he led the squad at the Big 12 Championships finishing 17th with a time of 24:42 on the 8,000-meter course. He also recorded an 8,000-meter time of 27:05 to finish 17th at the Great American Cross Country Festival in September. The Baylor squad competed at the LaVern Gibson Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center earlier this season, taking 16th in the White Race at the Asics/Pacesetter Pre-National meet. In that race, King finished 68th overall with a time of 25:01 on the 8,000-meter course.
King is the first Baylor male to run at the NCAA Championships since the team qualified for the event in 1994. Brian Keim was the top individual finisher that year, taking 52nd place with a time of 31:39.20.
