The Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday, October 27 at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course in Honolulu. All 10 schools will participate in the womens championship, while all but Hawai`i and Nevada will compete in the mens race. TCU won the womens title in 2000, and SMU is the defending mens champion.
Each team will name a maximum of nine competitors, with the first five finishers scoring and the sixth and seventh-place finishers acting as displacers. The mens 8,000-meter race begins at 8:00 a.m. and will be followed by the womens 5,000-meter race at 8:45 a.m.
The mens field will be led by the UTEP duo of Bashar Ibrahim and Dario Espinoza, the second and third-place finishers, respectively, at last years championship. SMU freshman Dalibor Balgac, who has won a race and finished second in his only competitions this season, will contend for the title as well. Mustang teammate David Gerych finished fourth at the 2000 Championships while Fresno States Roberto Vaca placed sixth. Along with Rices Lachlan McArthur, returning from a medical redshirt in 2000, these runners should make for an exciting and hotly-contested race.
In the womens race, Hawai`is Cheryl Smith is the favorite to take the title. Smith was third in last years championship, and she has tallied four wins this season and six top-five finishes in as many races. Challengers to Smith include teammate Casey McGuire-Turcott, Boise States Michelle Carman, Louisiana Techs Suzanne Dyson, San Jose States Ana Martinez and Tulsas Charlotte Sanderson. McGuire-Turcott placed sixth in 2000 and has finished in the top 10 for the Wahine in five races this season. Carman posted a win at the Bogus Basin Invitational in Boise, Idaho and added another in a dual meet with Eastern Oregon to go along with two other top-10 finishes. Dyson won the Louisiana Tech Invitational and recorded two more top-five finishes, while Martinez posted a first and two second-place finishes this season, helping the Spartans to team wins at the UC San Diego and Santa Clara Invitationals. Sanderson was the first Hurricane runner to cross the line in five races, including a win and three second-place showings. Fresno State and Nevada will also field runners with wins under their belts in Olga Gutierrez and Emma Garrard, respectively.