KIRKLAND, WA - Monday afternoon the NAIA announced the qualifiers for the 2023 Women's Cross Country National Championship, including 36 teams and 88 individuals. Two Cascade Collegiate Conference runners made the list as individual qualifiers, one being the Eagle's very own Kaylea Hartman. 

The graduate student from Selah, WA qualified for the NAIA indoor track distance medley relay and 1000 meter as a freshman, and now has qualified for cross country. 

Hartman raced in the CCC cross country championships last Friday in Caldwell, ID, placing 15th out of 70 runners with a 22:40.0 finish. Hartman passed a competitor in the last 100 meters to secure her 15th place position. 

Hartman's hard work has gone far beyond the finish line, as she has earned Academic All-Conference in cross country and track for the past four years, as well as the NAIA Scholar Athlete award for the past two. 

Head Coach Mark Mandi says, "I am really excited for Kaylea. By the grace of God, she has persevered through a lot of setbacks over the years and even dealt with some this season. Her first year she was the first person not to qualify as an individual for nationals and the past two seasons she seemed poised to qualify before things got derailed at the conference championships. This pass weekend at the championships, she has battled the whole way through. We compete in one of the toughest conferences in the NAIA so it isn't an easy route to the national championships."

Kaylea has two weeks to prepare for the national championship on Nov. 17, in Vancouver, WA, at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course.

The 2023 NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship will be live streamed here.