W&L's Nathan Johnson and Lindsay Erickson Qualify for NCAA National Championships

PANTHERSVILLE, GA -- At the NCAA South / Southeast Regional Championships, Washington & Lee University's Nathan Johnson and Lindsay Erickson simply continued on the path they've been on all season long. To individually advance, a runner must be one of the top four or five individuals (men= top 4 / women = top 5…..qualifiers are based on the previous years performances at Nationals). The top five would advance to compete at the National Championship meet.

Nathan Johnson started the day off with the men's race. With a conservative start…he then made a strong move around a mile and a half into the race to get up with the lead group. He later pulled away from the field to become the 2004 Regional Champion, winning by a nine second margin.

In the women's race, Lindsay Erickson put herself in position from the start. Her third place finish overall (behind only two returning All-Americans) punched her ticket to Nationals. She was the top finishing freshmen in the field by over one minute.

The similarities in the seasons of Johnson and Erickson have been interesting. In every meet they both ran, they would finish within one place of each other. Starting the year at the NYU invitational, were Johnson finished 4th and Erickson 5th. Next up was the Virginia Division II / III State Meet. Here Johnson was 1st and Erickson was 2nd. Moving along to the Gettysburg Invitational, Johnson finished 4th and Erickson was 5th. Then the ODAC Championships…here they both were individual champions while leading their teams to championship titles.

The duo will look to continue their impressive season as the National Championship meet will kick off with the men's race at 11:00am and the women starting at 12:00pm.