Spring-boarding off career-best showings at regional qualifiers, three Central College runners will compete at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships Saturday.

Caleb Silver and Will DeHaan qualified for the men’s championship race while Caroline McMartin is making her first trip to the women’s championship.

Both Central teams posted improved sixth-place finishes in the 24-team NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championships at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Illinois last Saturday, but the three Dutch runners were individual selections.

Silver raced to 12th place in 24:45.8 on the 8,000-meter course. That’s 38 seconds under his career-best time of 25:24 run on the same course Oct. 1 and easily outdistances his 63rd-place showing in the 2019 regional.

Will DeHaan followed closely in 14th in 24:48.5, more than 32 seconds under his previous best of 25:21 and well under his 2019 regional finish of 42nd.

They’re Central’s first men’s championships qualifiers since Mark Fairley and Tanner Rathje made the trip in 2017. While it’s the first national cross country meet for both Dutch runners, Silver did compete in the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Greensboro, North Carolina in May, finishing 12th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

McMartin is Central’s first women’s qualifier since Miranda Kruiswyk in 2018. McMartin was 19th in the regional meet, covering the 6,000-meter course in 22:27.9, 16 seconds under her previous best.

The 8,000-meter men’s championship race starts at 10 a.m. Central Time at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by the 6,000-meter women’s race at 11:00. A webstream of the races can be accessed via NCAA.com.