The Wake Forest men's cross country team had its season come to an end sooner than they would have liked this past week.

The team finished a disappointing eigth place out of 25 teams, who were trying to qualify for a spot in the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Regionals Nov. 16 in Greenville.

The season didn't end for everyone on the Deacon squad, since senior Mike Altieri's performance was good enough to earn him an at-large bid to represent the Deacs at the upcoming NCAA Championships.

Altieri led the way for the team, posting a time of 30:21.5. This was good enough for seventh place indvidually. The run also earned him a spot on the NCAA Southeast All-Regional team.

After finishing the race, Altieri had to wait to hear if his performance would be good enough to get him into the NCAA Championship. He found out on Nov. 19 that it was.

Other Deacons ran well in what turned out to be their final event of the fall season, but it just wasn't enough to earn the team the NCAA Championship bid for which they were striving.

Finishing behind Altieri for the Deacs was redshirt-freshman Sean Stevens in 40th place with a time of 31:24.2, and sophomore Brandon Bartholomew, who finished in 45th place with a time of 31:31.5.

Senior Eddie Acosta, and redshirt-fresman Andrew Ice also ran for Wake Forest. They finished 58th and 83rd, respectively.