Despite the abysmal conditions at Saturday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional, Saginus finished in 15th place overall, landing him just 0.,”Attempting to make his Marquette cross country career last a little bit longer, Kyle Saginus did everything in his power to qualify for the NCAA Championships. But he fell just short.

Despite the abysmal conditions at Saturday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional, Saginus finished in 15th place overall, landing him just 0.2 seconds short of Matt Lemon of the University of Dayton and the fourth automatic qualifying spot for an individual not on a qualifying team.

Although there was still hope that Saginus could earn one of two at-large selections, Sunday's vote by the NCAA Division I Track and Field subcommittee left Saginus' name off the list.

While the results were disappointing, coach Mike Nelson gave tribute to his star runner's performance.

"There's nothing (Saginus) could've done differently," Nelson said. "It was a fantastic race by him and an awesome effort. He ran a very intelligent, gutsy race in poor conditions. Unfortunately, he came up a little bit short."

While the men as a team weren't expecting to qualify for Nationals, the Marquette women still had a glimmer of hope. But even though they had their "best performance as a team all year," according to Nelson, they too failed to earn a berth.

Junior Anna Weber again paced the Golden Eagle attack, finishing in 25th place with a time of 21:57 for the 6k race. Jayne Grebinski, Laurie Dalrymple, Amanda Beggs and Olivia Johnson all ran well for Marquette, recording a mere 36 seconds between the first and final scorers.

"I was really happy with how all seven ladies did," Nelson said. "It was a good end to the season for us."

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