BATON ROUGE — Likhaya Dayile became only the second man in LSU history to qualify for consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday, when he received an at-large bid for the national meet, to be held at the Furman Golf Course in Greenville, S.C. on Nov. 19.
“It’s a fantastic accomplishment for Likhaya,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “I think he didn’t have his best race at the regional meet, but his season in whole spoke for itself and now he can move past last weekend and further establish himself as one of the nation’s top runners.”
Dayile finished seventh at the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday, but was the fifth finisher not associated with an NCAA automatic qualifying team. The top four individual finishers not associated with qualifying teams received automatic bids, while Dayile had to wait until Monday for the NCAA to determine his fate.
Dayile qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2000 and finished 115th.
“I think this year should definitely be a different experience for him,” said Elliott. “He’s been there once before and now knows what to expect. In addition, it was 15-below zero in Ames, Iowa last year and the weather in South Carolina will certainly help.”
Dayile becomes the first Tiger since Terry Thornton in 1989 and 1990 to qualify for consecutive NCAA Championships.