Boise State
STANFORD, Calif. ? The Boise State men’s cross country team concluded their season with a 21st place finish at the NCAA West Region Meet on Saturday. Breanna Sande also represented the women’s team and finished 94th in the field of 206 with a time of 22:03.75.
The men’s team earned a team berth in the regional meet after placing second at the WAC meet two weeks ago. Brian Pierre led the way for the Broncos once again, placing 82nd in the 174-man field with a time of 31:35.95. Kevin Higgs was the next to cross for the Broncos at the 31:50.50 mark in 91st. The next Bronco to finish was Cameron Lockard, coming across the finish line in 111th with a time of 32:18.34. Scott Foley finished with a time of 33:40.60 and came in 154th for the Broncos. To round out the scoring, Quinten Hennekam and Cassidy Bigsby came in 165th and 166th, respectively, with times of 34:42.67 and 34:51.28.
The meet concluded the 2008 season for the Broncos under first year coach Brad Wick.
Fresno State
FRESNO, Calif. - Erick Garcia wasn't ready to let his season go. After finishing second by less than three seconds in the Western Athletic Conference championships two weeks ago, Garcia knew the NCAA West Regional would be his chance.
In order to continue his season and compete in the NCAA Championships, Garcia would have to finish among the top 25 racers at the Regional at Stanford to even be eligible for qualification.
"Erick and I talked about if he ran his race, he would be in the top 25," said cross country coach Sean McManus. "But we knew if he didn't run his race, he wouldn't make it."
On Saturday, Garcia ran his race. Kind of.
"I told Erick he needed to run his splits, at least initially," said McManus. "But the leaders went out fast really early and he went with it."
Rather than hold back in the 10K, Garcia went with the front runners early.
"Erick put himself in good position from the start," said McManus. "But that first mile was exceptionally fast. I could tell it was hurting him a bit."
Garcia stayed determined not to let the race get away from him and after the first mile, settled in among the second pack.
"He got into that group and stayed between 18th and 22nd the entire race," said McManus.
And he didn't let up. Garcia finished in 20th with a time of 29:40.85. For Garcia, it was exactly the kind of race he was looking to run.
"I felt confident going in," he said. "I got into a good position at the beginning and just maintained it. The first mile was fast, but I didn't feel like it was."
Although he took 20th place and earned All-West Region honors, Garcia isn't guaranteed a spot in the NCAA finals just yet.
In order to qualify as an individual, runners had to be among the top 25 racers and then among the top four whose teams didn't qualify. Only the top two teams in the region earn automatic bids to the NCAA final, but there are 13 at-large bids that will be announced Sunday.
"We're 99.9 percent sure he will make it because the third and fourth place teams in the region were ranked the highest out of all the regions," said McManus.
Garcia is among the top four individuals if California, the region's third place team, earns a bid. If not, Garcia will be edged out of the berth.
"Cal and Washington both should be making it," said McManus. "They are easily two of the best teams in the country right now."
As for the Fresno State men's team, their improvement from last season was drastic. The team finished 14th among the 25-team field. The Bulldogs took 21st last season.
"All the guys ran really well," said McManus. "Our goal as a team was to be in the top 15 and we did that and beat all the other WAC teams in the race."
Frank Sanders filled in the second spot on the team, finishing in 57th place with a time of 30:52.30. Max Hernandez ran his best race of the season, timing in at 32:20.14 for 112th overall. Eric Battles and Brandon Geis ran side-by-side, taking 117th and 118th with times of 32:23.21 and 32:33.80 respectively. Elijah Carillo filled in the fifth spot for the Bulldogs with a time of 32:43.63 and a finish of 125. Mitchell Pfyl crossed at 34:53.75 to round out the Fresno State runners.
The women also showed improvement at the meet.
"We ran this exact course six weeks ago at the Stanford Invitational," explained McManus. "And all the women improved by 90 seconds to two-and-a-half minutes."
Jennifer Hernandez, who ran a personal best at the WAC Championships two weeks ago, ran her best 6K at the meet, timing in at 22:12.97 for 104th. Hernandez improved her time by 90 seconds since the Stanford Invite on Sept. 27. Senior Briana Cleary had her best race of the season, finishing second on the team at 147th place and a nearly two minute improvement to clock in at 22:52.57. Megan Poindexter ran the course in 24:37.56 for 191st. Marissa McPhail and Jocelyn Oviedo ran together, crossing within two seconds of each other at 25:30.47 and 25:32.02 respectively. Sasha Souder rounded out the Bulldog corps at 26:15.47.
"We did what we came here to do," said McManus. "We're really happy. We really showed how much we've improved in just six weeks."
The season is over for the teams, while Garcia now awaits the announcement of individual qualifiers for the NCAA final to be held on Nov. 24. The championship race will take place at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.
Hawai?i
STANFORD, CA ?Hawai?i’s season came to an end Saturday at the NCAA Regional in Stanford, Calif. The Rainbow Wahine placed 30th out of 30 teams at the event.
Tava Tedesco paced UH with a 181st place finish with a 6K time of 23:47.33. Liisa Cushing followed closely behind with a 186th place finish with a time of 24:11.79. Samantha Lotnick placed 189th for the Rainbow Wahine with a time of 24:25.47.
Hawai?i placed 30th with 934 points. Washington won the regional with 25 points, followed by Oregon (62) and Stanford (91).
Idaho
PALO ALTO, Calif. ? The University of Idaho women’s cross country team took 23rd overall and senior Allix Lee-Painter led the way with a 33rd-place individual finish at the NCAA West Regional Championships on Saturday at the Stanford Golf Course.
Lee-Painter came up just short of earning an automatic bid as an individual, as she took 33rd with a time of 20:58.29 on the 6,000m course. True freshman Teegan Schoch was Idaho’s No. 2 finisher, as she came in 113th with a time of 22:18.39.
Junior Melissa McFaddan finished 125th, sophomore Erica Digby came in 149th and freshman Julia Veseth came in 151st to round out Idaho’s team score of 560. Washington, the nation’s top-ranked team, won the meet with a score of 25.
The Vandal men’s team, which traveled with one athlete short of a scoring team, performed well on the day. Freshman Markus Geiger was the top finisher, as he took 64th in 31:04.27 on the 10,000m course, while fellow freshmen James Clark (120th) and Alex Brekke (158th) were Idaho’s second and third finishers. Senior Matt Racine rounded out the team’s finishes at 162nd.
Idaho head coach Wayne Phipps said that he was proud of the performances of a teams because a number of the runners came into the weekend under the weather and weren’t able to run at 100 percent.
Lee-Painter will find out early next week whether she made the cut for the NCAA Championships, but for the rest of the runners, it will be time to rest their bodies and get ready for the upcoming indoor track and field season.
Louisiana Tech
RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech's cross country team finished fifteenth at the NCAA South Central Regional Saturday morning at the 10k Cottonwood Creek Golf Course near the campus of Baylor University.
"I was hoping for the three seniors we'd have better finish," Tech head coach Gary Stanley said. "Fifteenth out of 33 teams is not terrible, but for those guys, we were hoping 15 out of 33 is not terrible. We appreciate the efforts of these seniors and their five years at Louisiana Tech. I'm glad to get on to track season."
First team-All WAC senior Kinsey Dinnel led the way for the Bulldogs with a 31st overall finish after running 32 minutes, 14 seconds. Second team All-WAC senior Zach Schuler followed with a 51st place finish at 32:52, while senior Nate Davis posted 33:49 for 81st.
Freshman Jack Ramstad finished 90th overall at 34:24, while sophomore David Monroe finished 105th at 35:05. Freshman Josh Slocum rounded out the Tech finishers at 35:53 for 113th.
Louisiana Tech begins the 2009 indoor season at the Missouri Southern Invitational Jan. 16, 2009, at Joplin, Mo.
Nevada
FT. COLLINS, Colo. ? The University of Nevada cross country team posted its second consecutive top-10 finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship Saturday afternoon at Collindale Golf Course. The Pack finished 10th out of 18 teams in the 6K race hosted by Colorado State.
Jordan Burke was Nevada’s top finished coming in 37th out of 127 runners with a PR time of 21:34.6. Burke’s time places her third all-time on Nevada’s 6K list. Amanda Moreno finished 45th clocking a PR time of 21:42.6, good for fourth on Nevada’s all-time 6K list.
Janet Martinez took 53rd and set a PR of 21:53.3, followed by Christa Avena (63rd, 22:05.3); Chelsea Chauvet-Moore who set a PR of 22:07.7 and finished 66th.
Tiffany Tandy finished 110th (22:07.7) followed by Natalia Jarawka 116th (23:50.0).
Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego finished first overall with a time of 19:31.9. Texas Tech finished first as a team followed by New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Colorado and BYU.
Nevada tied its second-best finish at the Regional Championships. The Pack’s best finish at the Regional meet was a sixth-place finish in 2003 while last season the Pack finished 10th.
The top two teams from each region automatically qualified for the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. on November 24, with the rest of the 31-team field being chosen at-large from all nine regions.
New Mexico State
FORT COLLINS, Colo.-- The New Mexico State cross country teams ended its 2008 season at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship, Saturday, Nov. 15, on the campus of Colorado State, in Fort Collins, Colo.
The women’s team finished 16-out-of-18, while the men were 14-out-of-15. Sophomore Amy Arenas led the way for the women, while freshman Ian Ruybalid paced the men. Both Aggies cross the line with a 65th-place finish. Arenas recorded a time of 22:07.1 in the 6k races and Ruybalid stopped the clock at 32:13.1 in the 10k race.
Assistant coach Paul Harkins said that he was proud of the way Ruybalid and Arenas has been consistent threats for the Aggies throughout the season.
“Amy and Ian are always ready to compete. They ran tough today,” Harkins said. “As a group, I feel that we did not showcase our talent today. We have improved so much this year and we did show that improvement.”
Five spots behind Arenas was sophomore Brandi Gutierrez, placing 70th with a time of 22:14, while junior Ingrid Flores was the third Aggie to cross the line. She recorded a time of 22:35.9 en route to an 87th-place finish.
Junior Brittany Hurtado placed 100th with a time of 23:01.4, while junior Christina Herrera was 108th overall in a time of 23:25.0.
For the men, senior Josh Sifuentes was the second Crimson and White to cross the line. He placed 89th with a time of 33:33.1
Sophomore Patrick Hernandez was third for the Aggies and 95th overall. He stopped the clock at 33:56.7. Following Hernandez across the line was freshman Anthony Ellis with a 96th-place finish in a time of 34:00.1. Sophomore Michael Hart was the fifth Aggie to come across. He placed 100th with a time of 34:05.1.
The Aggies now shift gears to the indoor track and field season, as practice has been underway in preparation for the Jan. 17 season opener, at the Lobo Invitational, in Albuquerque, N.M.
Utah State
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Utah State women's cross country took eighth at the NCAA Mountain Regionals hosted by Colorado State Saturday. The men finished 10th overall in the race and both teams compete against 18 other schools.
Senior Ashley Johnson finished 16th overall running the 6K course in 21:03.5 and was the Aggies top finisher for the second race in a row. Johnson led the Aggies to a first place finish two weeks ago in the WAC Championships in Las Cruces which was her first action of the season. She helped lead the Aggies to their second WAC title. Following Johnson was freshman Jessie Chugg (21:39.5) in 40th place and sophomore Kim Quinn (21:50.7) in 51st place.
Texas Tech's women came in first place at the NCAA Regionals with 42 points followed by New Mexico (70 points) and Northern Arizona (92 points).
On the men's side, junior Jason Holt was the top finisher coming in 19th place, running the 10k course in 30:12.9. Holt, who was name WAC Athlete of the Year after finishing first at the WAC Championships, has been the Aggies top finisher in the two previous races. Following Holt was freshman Daniel Howell (32:09.9) coming in 64th overall and sophomore Hunter Nelson who was 67th (32:15.9).
Colorado was the first place team with 42, while Northern Arizona followed in second with 65 points. Brigham Young came in third with 70 points.
In both the men's and women's regionals, the top two teams at each meet will earn automatic bids to the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
On Sunday, Nov. 15, a selection committee will name 13 at-large teams (both men and women), comprising the 31 teams at the national championships to advance to the NCAA Championships. There will also be 38 individuals advancing to each meet. The top four runners at each regional meet not on an advancing team automatically advance to the national meet. On Sunday, the selection committee will select two additional at-large runners.
If the Aggies are chosen, they will head to Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 24, to compete in the NCAA Championships.