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2002 Championship Preview.pdf
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The 42nd Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship takes place on Saturday, November 2 at Norbuck Park in Dallas. All 10 WAC schools will be in attendance for the women, while Nevada and Hawaii dont sponsor mens cross country programs. Rice brought home the 2001 mens title, while Tulsa earned top honors for the women.
The meet begins at 9:00 a.m. for the women, while the men will follow shortly after at 9:45 a.m. The format for this competition is the same as last season. 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.
This years mens field is wide open. Boise State comes to Dallas with two first-place finishes. The Broncos are led by a trio of runners. Forest Braden, Miles Wiscombe and Michael Ciampini have been the top runners in a meet in 2002. Braden won the North West Nazarene Open, Wiscombe has three top-five finishes, and Ciampani was the second Bronco in two events.
Fresno State looks to better its fifth-place performance from a year ago, as they have four top-three team finishes, winning the Gator Invite in San Francisco. Fernando Cabada has been the top finisher for the Bulldogs, taking first in three of those meets. He is coming into this meet strong, winning his last event, the Cal Poly Invite. Roosevelt Cook has followed Cabada in three of their meets this season.
Louisiana Tech has finished strong in each of its events this season, defeating Centenary in dual early in the season and finishing in the top three in three of the final four meets they attended. The Bulldogs won the Northwestern State Open. Carlos Arrizon has been the Bulldogs top finisher in their final three meets. Fellow Bulldog Karoly Varga opened the season as the top finisher in their first two.
Rice looks to defend its title, as they return 2001 WAC Freshman of the Year, Scott Loftin. Adam Davis, who finished 17th last season, has been the Owls top finisher in four of their five events this fall, all top10 performances.
SMU is the only team this season to receive votes in the Mondo Mens Cross Country poll. The Mustangs picked up two wins this season, the SMU Invite and the Auburn Invite, while landing in the top-five, four times. Five different runners have led SMU this season, giving them a strong base coming into the conference meet. Dalibor Balgac, the 2001 bronze medalist, is coming off a win at the Auburn Invite where he topped 191 other runners. Mindi Pukstas is the only other Mustang to take top honors this season (SMU Invite), but he did it on the host course for this seasons championship, Norbuck Park.
UTEPs Bashir Ibrahim, who brought home the 2001 WAC individual crown, is back to defend his title. He, along with teammates Dirk de Heer and Marco Gallegos lead a strong UTEP team. The Miners have grabbed three top-five finishes this season, taking first at the Kachina Classic in Las Cruces, N.M.
The San Jose State trio of Matt Heard, Jesse McLeod and Will Crane helped the Spartans to four top-three team finishes. Heard, who has led the Spartans in four of their five events in 2002, finished first in his most recent event, the Santa Clara Invite. Both Crane and McLeod have had strong showings behind Heard, combining for five top-10 finishes.
Tulsa began the season taking first at the Hurricane Festival and continued the trend throughout the season, finishing in the top five three times. Andy Norman has led the Hurricane in each event of the season and is looking to top his 13th-place finish in 2001. Owain Matthews finished just behind his teammate in four events, taking second at the Hurricane Festival.
On the womens side Tulsa will look to defend its title, as they edged Rice by nine points in 2001.
Boise State earned a pair of meet wins this season, winning the Northwest Nazaren Open and the Boise State Open. Robin Wemple, who finished 15th at last seasons WAC Championship, has led the Broncos with two first-place and one second-place performance. Kayla Christensen has finished just behind Wemple in each meet this season grabbing three top-five performances.
Fresno State has competed in six events this fall, taking first in two of them. The Bulldogs are led by Kara June and Olga Gutierrez-Nunez. The pair have finished one two for the Bulldogs in each meet this season. June has six top-team finishes to her name, finishing in the top-five, in five of those events. She won the Watermelon Run, Stanislaus Invite and Gator Invitational. Gutierrez-Nunez has three top-10 performances.
Hawaii, who was edged out of third by one point by Nevada in 2001, has finished in the top five, nine times this season. With the loss of 2001 WAC Athlete of the Year, Cheryl Smith, the Rainbow Wahine are led by Victoria Chang, who owns the fastest 5k time in the WAC this season. She posted a time of 17:20 at the Williamette Invite. Chang has been the top Wahine finisher in six events. Hanna Bremler finished within three places of Chang in each of those events.
Louisiana Tech, who finished 10th in last seasons championship, looks to better its finish with the help of Mashonda Sneed and Brooke Sims. The two Lady Techsters have been the teams top two runners in each event.
Nevada will make a run for the top spot, as they have three first-place finishes this season. The Wolf Pack won the Hornet Harrier Classic, Fresno State Invite and the Santa Clara Invite. Emma Garrard, a sixth-place finisher in 2001, led the team in four events. She took home top honors at the Fresno State Invite. Jenna Huber comes to Dallas after taking sixth at the Santa Clara Invite.
Rice, who was edged by nine points in 2001 by champion Tulsa, is relying on a host athletes to win this years championship. One of the Owls wins this season came at Norbuck Park, the site for the 2002 Championship. The Owls have had three top-team finishers with six different runners coming in second for the Wolf Pack. Katie Waite, Summer Bell and Kate Gorry have each led the team in a different event this fall.
San Jose States Kim Nebeker is the teams top returner from last season. She finished ninth in 2001. The Spartans have four top-five team finishes, taking second in three of those. Ashleigh Nebeker, Judy DeLong, Janette Najera and Kim Nebeker have all led the Spartans this season. DeLong and Ashleigh Nebeker have the best finishes, as they both have a fourth-place finish this season.
SMU will try to move up from its ninth-place finish at the 2001 Championship. The Mustangs are led by 2001 WAC Freshman of theYear, Karin van Rooyen. van Rooyen has three first-place finishes this year with one coming at the SMU Invite at Norbuck Park. The Mustangs opened the season winning the North Texas Invite and taking second at the SMU Invite. Emily Field, Rika Feuth and Marie Norman have all earned points this season for the Mustangs.
UTEP grabbed a second-place finish at the Kachina Classic earlier in the season. Maria Llerena and Corine van Beek, who finished 13th and 18th in 2001, respectively, are the top Miners this year. van Beek, who won the Kachina Classic, has led the Miners in their last two events.
Tulsa, the 2001 Champion, looks to defend its title with out Charlotte Sanderson, the top Hurricane finisher last year. With three second-place finishes, the Hurricane are prepped for another title. The Hurricane are led by Sarah Haskins who finished 10th last year. Monica Joannes, Tami Scott and Natalie Rasmussen, who was 19th a year ago will all contribute for Tulsa.
Results for the 2002 WAC Championship will be available 30 minutes after each event. They will be posted on www.smumustangs.com and www.wacsports.com. For more information on WAC cross country visit wacsports.com or contact Joe Menaugh at (303) 799-9221.