IRVINE, Calif. - Senior Noah Plaza will represent the Concordia Golden Eagles at the NCAA DII Men's Cross Country Championships this November after he was officially invited as an individual qualifier on Monday afternoon.

Plaza will become the first CUI male runner to compete at the national meet in the D2 era of the program when he toes the line on Saturday, November 22 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

"I'm definitely on an emotional high right now," admitted Plaza. "It's definitely thrilling to be able to go represent Concordia on the national stage. The fact that it hasn't been done before and to just put my foot in the door and get to do that as well. To be able to cap off a season by getting to go to nationals.

CLICK HERE for the full VIDEO INTERVIEW with Noah Plaza

A graduate of Williams Field High School, Plaza cemented his chance to run at the NCAA Championships by turning in the best finish in program history at the NCAA DII West Regional this past Saturday. The Gilbert, Arizona native placed sixth out of more than 160 runners and was the top male runner out of all the PacWest Conference schools.

Plaza notched a personal record with his 10K time of 29 minutes and 41.17 seconds. 

Recently, Plaza finished second overall at the recent PacWest Conference meet and became the first CUI male student-athlete to earn First Team All-PacWest recognition twice.

The NCAA DII Championships will feature the women's race at 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, Nov. 22 and then Plaza will step on the course for the men's race at 9:15 a.m. PT.

CLICK HERE for Live Results for the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships

CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's cross country schedule