St. Clair College's Andrew deGroot finished in eighth place in the Canadian Cross Country Championships senior men's division held Saturday at Jericho Beach in Vancouver, B.C.

He completed the 10 km distance in a time of 30:34.07 amongst a field that featured two Olympians along with the top runners from the NCAA, CIS, and NAIA.

As a result, deGroot was named to the final selection pool for the Canadian senior men's national cross country team. Six athletes will be selected to represent Canada at both the NACAC and World Championships in 2013. Currently, deGroot is an alternate but some of the athletes who finished ahead of him may have NCAA sport commitments and Athletics Canada could name him to the national team in December.

It is believed to be the first time that a male athlete from the CCAA has been in the Canadian senior national team pool for cross country running.

This caps an incredible fall for deGroot who has already won an OCAA provincial silver medal as well as a CCAA national title competing for St. Clair College.

Source: St. Clair College