THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
No Meets This Week
LAST WEEK IN THE WAC
Saturday, October 18
Louisiana Tech at Chile Pepper Festival, M-12th/30
Utah State at Pre-Nationals, M-36th/41, W-31st/41
San Jose State at Santa Clara Bronco Open, M-1st/8, W-2nd/9
Boise State at Bronco Invitational, M-3rd/14, W-7th/17
Fresno State at Bronco Invitational, M-6th/14, W-12th/17
Hawai?i at Bronco Invitational, W-15th/17
Idaho at Bronco Invitational, M-4th/14, W-6th/17
Nevada at Bronco Invitational, W-3rd/17
New Mexico State at Bronco Invitational, M-12th/14, W-5th/17
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
Multiple Boise State athletes finished in the top-25 on Saturday at the Bronco Invitational ... the Bronco men led the way, finishing in third as a team with two top-5 finishers ... the women placed seventh overall out of the 17 teams in competition ... for the men, sophomore Sawyer Bosch ran his way to yet another top-5 finish, placing second overall with a time of 24:39 - only two seconds behind the top finisher in the 8k event ... Brian Pierre wasn’t far behind his teammate as he finished with a time of 24:51 for a sixth place finish ... the women also had two top-25 finishers led by senior Breanna Sande with a time of 17:57 in the 5k event, placing 19th in the field.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Erick Garcia won his second invitational of the season Saturday, beating out 136 other racers to take the individual title at the Santa Clara Invitational. The Bulldog women were 12th, driven by a personal-best by junior Jennifer Hernandez ... Garcia ran a stellar 24:37 in the 8K, one of three Bulldogs to finish in the top 25 as Fresno State took sixth as a team ... On the women’s side, Hernandez placed 34th out of 143 racers with her personal-best of 18:18.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai?i placed 15th at the Santa Clara Invitational, Saturday, at Baylands Park ... the Rainbow Wahine placed 15th in the 5K invitational race, which was won by Long Beach State ... the team totaled 397 points ... UH was led once again by sophomore Mariana Monasi, who placed 60th overall with a time of 18:45 ... Monasi has recorded the team’s top time in all five races this season ... right behind Monasi was freshman Liisa Cushing, who crossed the finish line in 18:57 for 67th place ... other Rainbow Wahine scoring team points were junior Tava Tedesco (19:21/88th), sophomore Briana Goodnight (20:15/115th), and junior Shannon Dresser (20:44/127th).
Idaho Vandals
Idaho put together another solid performance on Saturday at the Bronco Invitational, as the men finished fourth, the women finished sixth and both teams had a top-three individual finisher ... senior Jeremiah Johnston led the way for the Vandal men with his best finish of the year, as he took third out of the field of 137 runners with a time of 24:41 in the 8k race ... he was just four seconds off the pace of the first-place runner ... another senior, Allix Lee-Painter, led the Vandal women with a second-place finish out of 143 entrants in the 5k run ... she finished the course in a time of 17:27 ... Lee-Painter has now finished either first or second in three of Idaho’s four meets this season and has been the team’s top finisher every time.
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech competed in the 2008 Chile Pepper Festival Saturday morning placing 12th overall out of 29 teams ... senior Kinsey Dinnel again led the way for the Bulldogs with an overall 29th place finish after running a time of 30 minutes, 29 second ... senior Zac Schuler took 78th place at 31:47, while senior Nate Davis finished 105 at 32:25. A total of 257 runners ... sophomore John Ramstad ran 32:49 for 120 overall, sophomore David Monroe rand 33:32 for 153 overall and sophomore Chico Cortez fan 33:40 for 159 overall ... sophomore Kyle Davis placed 171 at 34:00, while freshman Josh Slocum rounded out Tech’s finishers with a 176th place and a time of 34:06.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada finished third out of 17 teams at the 5K Bronco Invite Saturday morning at Baylands Park ... with the WAC Cross Country Championships two weeks away, Nevada finished first out of the seven WAC teams in attendance Saturday morning ... Christa Avena was Nevada’s top finisher for the ninth consecutive meet, finishing third overall out of 143 runners with a PR time of 17:31 ... freshman Jordan Bruke finished 12th overall with a PR of 17:45 ... Burke was named Nevada’s athlete of the meet as she posted a 45-second PR on Saturday ... Nevada’s third runner, Amanda Moreno, finished 22nd overall with a time of 17:59.
New Mexico State Aggies
Distance specialists Brandi Gutierrez and Ingrid Flores claimed the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, as the Aggies finished fifth overall against their strongest competition of the season, Saturday morning at the Santa Clara Invitational ... the men’s squad finished 12th overall and was led by freshman Anthony Ellis ... he placed 47th overall with a season-best time of 25:25 in the 8k race ... Gutierrez clocked a time of 17:34, while Flores crossed the line at 17:38 in the 5k race ... freshman Ian Ruybalid recorded a 58th-place finish in a time of 26:04, while senior James Nduati placed 72nd with a time of 26:11.
San Jose State Spartans
SJSU’s men’s team finished in first place in a field of eight teams in the men’s 8K Santa Clara Bronco Open race ... among the 64 competitors, the Spartan placed five runners in the top-25, led by senior Sean Dundon who clocked the team’s fastest time and placed 7th overall with a 27:21 ... the women’s team finished in second place in a field of nine teams in the women’s 5K race ... among the 81 competitors, the Spartan placed five runners in the top-25, led by junior Suzanne Hancock who clocked the team’s fastest time and placed 6th overall with a 19:02.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State’s men’s and women’s cross country performed well in a pre-nationals meet held here Saturday ... this was the largest race USU has competed in this season with both the Aggie men and women running against 41 teams ... on the men’s side, junior Jason Holt was the Aggies top finisher running the 8,000 meter race in 24:50.7 coming in as the 90th finisher and leading USU to a 36th-place finish overall ... for the women, senior Caroline Berry was the top finisher running the 6,000 meter race in 22:21.2 coming in as the 149th finisher leading the Aggies to a 31st place finish overall.
WAC NOTES
BOISE STATE’S BOSCH, IDAHO’S LEE-PAINTER NAMED CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Bosie State’s Sawyer Bosch and Idaho’s Allix Lee-Painter have been named the Western Athletic Conference men and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week of Oct. 13 ? Oct. 19.
Bosch, a sophomore from Portland, Ore. (Borah HS), finished in the top-five for the third time this season. Bosch posted his best 8K time (24:39) of the year to place second overall at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara. Bosch led the Broncos to a third place team finish at the event, beating out four other WAC teams.
Lee-Painter, a senior from Moscow, Idaho (Moscow HS), finished second overall out of 143 runners and was the top WAC finisher at the Bronco Invitational. Lee-Painter finished the race with a time of 17:27?her fastest 5K time of the season. Lee-Painter has now finished either first or second overall in three of Idaho’s four races this season, and has been the team’s top finisher each time. It marks the third time this season that Lee-Painter has been awarded athlete of the week honors.
Other Men’s Nominees: Idaho’s Jeremiah Johnston placed third at the Bronco Invitational with an 8K time of 24:41 ... Louisiana Tech’s Kinsey Dinnel led the Bulldogs with a 10K time of 30:29 to place 29th at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville ... New Mexico State’s Anthony Ellis placed 47th at the Santa Clara Invitational with a season-best 8K time of 25:25.
Other Women’s Nominees: Nevada’s Christa Avena finished third at the Bronco Invitational with a 5K personal-best time of 17:31 ... New Mexico State’s Brandi Gutierrez finished fourth at the Bronco Invitational with a 5K time of 17:34.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2008 WAC Cross Country Championship travels to Las Cruces, New Mexico. This year’s championships will be held Saturday, Nov. 1 at the New Mexico State Golf Course. Utah State won last year’s men’s championship, while Idaho took the title on the women’s side.
November 1, 2008
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Host: New Mexico State
New Mexico State Golf Course
Admission: Free
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2008 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country, Saturday, Nov. 15. WAC teams will be represented in three locations. The West Region will be held in Stanford, Calif. (Stanford University). The Mountain Region will be held in For Collins, Colo. (Colorado State University), while Louisiana Tech will be the lone team in the South Central Regional (Baylor) in Waco, Texas.
November 15, 2008
Great Lakes Region - Purdue University
Mid Atlantic Region - Princeton University
Midwest Region - Oklahoma State University
Mountain Region - Colorado State University
Northeast Region - Columbia University-Barnard College
South Region - University of Tennessee, Knoxville
South Central Region - Baylor University
Southeast Region - Wake Forest University
West Region - Stanford University
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS ? The 2008 Cross Country National Championships once again travels to Terre Haute, Ind. and Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Indiana State is the host for this year’s Championships.
November 24, 2008
Wabash Valley Family Sports Center
Terre Haute, Ind.
Host: Indiana State University
Ticket Info: 812/237-4040