Junior James Settles led the Colorado College men's cross country team to a fifth-place finish Saturday at the NCAA Division III West Regional Championship and has officially qualified for next week's NCAA Division III National Championship.
 
Settles, who won the SCAC Championship Meet two weeks ago, finished Saturday's 8K regional race in ninth place with a time of 24:45.1 and posted CC's best result at the regional meet since Nick Hall finished eighth in 2013. Settles will run at the national meet on Saturday, Nov. 19 at Forest Akers East Golf Course in Lansing, Mich., beginning at 12 p.m. (ET).

"James has worked incredibly hard all year," head coach Alex Nichols said. "He has been focused on this goal in every practice and race. To see him finish as the first individual qualifier in one of the most competitive regions was so exciting. I can't wait to see what he can do next weekend."
 
Pomona-Pitzer took the team title with 37 points, followed by Claremont Mudd-Scripps (61), UC Santa Cruz (108), George Fox (129) and Colorado College (138).
 
The winning team from the 10 regions around the country automatically qualifies for the NCAA Division III National Championship, while the top seven individuals that are not on that team or other teams selected at-large also advance to the national meet.
 
Junior Devlin Swanson was CC's second-best runner Saturday, finishing 21^st in a time of 25:06.5 and earning all-region honors. Sophomore Brett Kitazono also collected an all-region selection, finishing 31^st in 25:30.6. Senior Theo Snowdon and sophomore Walt Jones rounded out the scoring for the Tigers by placing 47^th and 57^th, respectively.
 
 
NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country West Region Team Scores
1. Pomona-Pitzer - 36              
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps - 65              
3. UC Santa Cruz - 103              
4. George Fox - 144             
5. Colorado College - 163             
6. Pacific Lutheran - 195             
7. La Verne - 238             
8. Trinity (Tex.) - 240             
9. Caltech - 283             
10. Redlands - 283              
11. Lewis & Clark - 311              
12. UT-Dallas - 318             
13. McMurry – 414
14. Whitworth – 420
15. St. Thomas (TX) - 426             
16. Occidental – 438
17. Puget Sound - 446             
18. Southwestern - 500    
19. Willamette - 513        
20. Cal Lutheran - 526             
21. Whitman - 535             
22. Pacific (Ore.) - 541             
 
 
Colorado College Individual Results (8K)

Name	Finish	Points	Time
James Settles	9	9	24:45.0
Devlin Swanson	21	21	25:06.5
Brett Kitazono	31	31	25:30.6
Theo Snowdon	47	47	26:01.0
Walt Jones	57	55	26:16.6
Rabbit Barnes	83	(78)	26:40.5
Joe Bullock	96	(90)	26:52.9