Whitewater's Harms Earns Selection to NCAA Cross Country Championships at UW-Whitewater

2017 Nov 13

Brett Harms, a native of Whitewater, WI, graduate of Whitewater High School and member of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's cross country team, will compete in the 2017 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the North Farm Course in Elsah, Ill.

Saturday's meet, which will be hosted by Principia College, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Harms is now a three-time national qualifier, earning his place after finishing 16th at last Saturday's NCAA Midwest Regional in Rock Island, Ill. The top seven individual finishers from non-qualifying teams at each regional garner spots at the national championship meet.

Harms ran a personal-record time of 24:06.2 at the regional race, shattering his previous best mark by nearly 25 seconds and moving up to third on the program's all time list of top personal bests. One week earlier, he placed seventh at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships to garner his second straight first team all-conference accolade and third All-WIAC recognition overall.

Harms first qualified for the NCAA Championships as a sophomore in 2015, when he placed 56th overall at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wis.

In 2016, three weeks after running a career best time, Harms became the program's first All-American since 2007 after finishing 32nd at the national race at the Tom Sawyer Course in Louisville, Ky.

Harms is the program's first three-time national qualifier since Gary Garcia reached the NCAAs in 2003, 2004 and 2005.