WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's cross country team is in Joplin, Mo. for Saturday morning's NCAA Division II Championships, as is Falcon sophomore Tara Dooley (Lee/Lee HS) of the women's team.

The championships, which are being hosted by Missouri Southern State University, will be streamed live at www.NCAA.com. The men's race will get underway at 10:30 CT (11:30 ET), and the women will follow at 11:30 CT (12:30 ET).

Dooley, who has only been running cross country since last October, is making her second trip to the national championships. A year ago, she missed earning All-America honors by only 15 seconds while finishing 49th in a field of 186.

 While Dooley has had a taste of championship experience, no one on the men's team has, with the Falcons making their first trip as a team since a four-year run from 2000-03. The Falcons qualified by virtue of a second-place finish in the East Regional earlier this month.

Second-year coach and USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year Kevin Curtin has a veteran lineup with the projected top five all seniors. That group is led by Rob Dextradeur (Branford, Conn./Branford HS), who was fifth overall in the regional, covering the 10,000-meter course in 30:12.4.

John Drago (Avon, Conn./Avon HS) and Sean Maguire (Essex, Vt./Essex HS) finished within seven seconds of each other in ninth and 11th place, respectively, and Bentley's top five also included Craig Robinson (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough HS) and Teddy Farley (Acton/Acton-Boxborough Reg. HS). They joined the other three on the All-East Region team, with Robinson 15th and Farley 25th.

Rounding out Bentley's lineup at the NCAAs will be junior Conor Higgins (Randolph, N.J./ Randolph HS) and freshman Sam Powell (Granby/Holyoke Catholic HS).

Bentley's top finish during its four previous trips to the NCAAs was 18th in 2000.

A total of 32 men's teams and 32 women's teams will be competing.