SALT LAKE CITY – Westminster senior Amanda Theobald will compete in the 2009 NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships in Vancouver, Washington on Saturday, November 21. This is the second consecutive year that Theobald qualified for the national meet and she is the only harrier in school history to qualify for the meet. Theobald qualified this year after placing second at the Frontier Conference Championships.

The event will take place at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site and hosted by the Cascade Collegiate Conference and Concordia (Ore.) University. This marks the first year for the event in Vancouver -- Kenosha, Wis., was the site for the Championships the previous two years.

The Cross Country National Championships are free and open to the public. The women's race starts at approximately 11:45 a.m. PST. Fort Vancouver Historical Site, located near Portland, Ore., is a unique, historic and challenging competition venue that boasts a successful record for hosting world class cross country championship events, including USA Men's and Women's Cross Country National Championships and World Cross Country Trials.

Thirty-two women's teams, including 23 conference/independent/unaffiliated champions, two conference runners-up, six at-large bids, one host berth and 117 individual qualifiers, will run in the 5K race. Azusa Pacific (Calif.) captured its first women's cross country title a year. Armed as the top-ranked team, the Cougars will look to junior Jacky Kipwambok, who finished second at the national meet a year ago.