Versus to carry NCAA cross country championships...

INDIANAPOLIS--- The 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will be broadcast live on VERSUS, marking the third consecutive year the championships will be seen on live television, and the first with VERSUS. A live web stream of the championships will also be available on NCAA.com.

The championships will be held at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center and hosted by Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 23. The men’s race will start at approximately noon Eastern, with the women’s race to follow. The 2009 championships will be hosted by Indiana State University for the sixth-straight year.

“We are pleased that the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will be broadcast live for the third consecutive year,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies. “Through coordinated efforts with our network partner CBS, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions and VERSUS, we are excited that these two premiere NCAA fall championships will be televised in high definition. VERSUS brings great exposure and distribution to this event as it marks the first live NCAA championship that will air on the network.”

“The entire cross community has enjoyed watching the event live on television and the internet, and everyone will be pleased they have the ability to do that again this year on VERSUS,” said David Beauchem, chair of the Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championship Committee and head cross country and women’s track and field coach at Bradley University. “It is important that we continue to obtain the best exposure for the sport of cross country.”

VERSUS is a nationally renowned sports network that is distributed to over 75 million U.S. households.

The University of Oregon is the two-time defending men’s team champion, while the University of Washington will defend its title on the women’s side.

NOTE: The NCAA contributed to this report.