THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Thursday, October 22
Boise State at College of Idaho Coyote, M-4th/6,W-3rd/3
Saturday, October 24
Hawai‘i at BYU-Hawai‘i Flat 5K Run, La’ie, O’ahu
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
The Bronco women have been led by Shannon Porter all season. This was the first meet the women have finished out of the top-10 … the Bronco men now have two first place finishes as well as a second place finish and a fifth place finish on the season … Kevin Higgs was the top runner for Boise State at the first meet while Bosch has topped the team in the second, third and fourth meets.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State’s women finished 10th among the 17 teams competing at the Bronco Invitational … seven Bulldogs set season-bests at the race, including Pamela Cruz, Paloma Dominguez, Marrijtje Molenhuis, Jocelyn Oviedo, Veronica Paredes, Roxanne Sellick and Kelsey Smith … the team beat out two conference foes, San Jose State and Boise State, and just behind Hawai’i … the Bulldog men had their best finish of the season, taking second place among the 15 teams competing in the 8K Men’s Invitational … first-place Long Beach State was just three points better than Fresno State, winning with a score of 69 to the Bulldog’s 72.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai‘i placed ninth at the Bronco Invitational ... more importantly, the Rainbow Wahine placed third among the six WAC teams competing ... UH accumulated 245 points and trailed meet champion New Mexico State (49 points) ... highlighting UH’s effort was Ashley Aitken’s sixth place finish with yet another personal best ... two weeks ago, Aitken set a huge PR at Oregon’s Dellinger Invitational but this week she knocked off another 30 seconds by finishing the 5K race in 17:23 ... the transfer from the University of Tulsa, beat the top runners from schools such as Stanford, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, California, and Sacramento State.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho runners took third in both the men’s and women’s races as more than 200 runners descended upon the University of Idaho Golf Course Saturday afternoon for the Inland Northwest Cross Country Challenge ... sophomore Markus Geiger was the third overall finisher and the second collegiate finisher in the men’s 8,000m race with a 24:23.30, while senior Melissa McFaddan paced the women with a third-place finish of her own in 18:07.95 on the 5,000m course.
Louisiana Tech
Did not compete last week ... the team now preps for the WAC championship on Oct. 31.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada finished fifth overall, ahead of four of the five other WAC schools who participated…eight of the Pack’s 10 runners who competed recorded PRs…Christy Works finished third overall in the open meet out of 135 runners…Nevada will host the 2009 WAC Championships on October 31 at Rancho San Rafael.
New Mexico State Aggies
The New Mexico State women’s team team took the title at Santa Clara’s Bronco Invite ... sophomore Courtney Schultz (Cloudcroft, N.M.) paced the Aggies across the line while placing third, overall and helping NM State to a first place finish at the invitational ... she clocked a time of 17:20, her swiftest time of the season in the 5k ... just behind Schultz with a time of 17 minutes and 22 seconds was senior Ingrid Flores ... the Aggie men placed seventh overall at the race, a five spot improvement from last year’s Bronco Invitational ... freshman Robert Selph led the men in 22nd place with a time of 25:12. Following Selph with a time of 25:19 was sophomore Ian Ruybalid.
San Jose State Spartans
SJSU’s men’s team was again led by junior Alfredo Coronado, who finished fourth overall at the 2009 Bronco open ... the 8K Invitational race consisted of 15 teams of which the Spartans finished tenth with a total score of 259 ... Coronado finished the 8K course through Baylands Regional Park in 24:41. He finished first for San Jose State for the fourth time in five races this season. Irvin Garcia (25:36) was the Spartans next finisher, coming in 50th place ... the Spartan women team took 15th out of 17 with a total of score of 392 ... Kate Lambdin was San Jose State’s top finisher as she crossed the finish line after 18:46, good for 71st overall.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State men’s and women’s cross country teams split this weekend’s action sending half of each team to the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terra Haute, Ind. and half to the Idaho State Invitational ... the women’s action in Idaho State was led by freshman Stephanie Burt who came in 17th overall clocking in at 11:25.00 ... the Utah State women finished fourth overall with 108 points in Pocatello ... in the men’s 5k race, freshman Kyle Moffet (16:31.00) was the Aggies top finisher tabbing 14th place.
WAC NOTES
FRESNO STATE’S ZWAMA AND NEW MEXICO STATE’S SCHULTZ NAMED CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Fresno State’s Paul Zwama and New Mexico State’s Courtney Schultz have been named the Western Athletic Conference men and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 12-18.
Zwama, a junior from Leens, Netherlands (CSG Dingstede), led Fresno State with a second place finish at the Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif. Zwama finished just one second behind the top finisher at the event. Zwama ran a career-best and team-best 24:33 to finish second out of the 160 competitors to help the Bulldogs to a second place team finish.
Schultz, a sophomore from Cloudcroft, N.M. (Oklahoma/Cloudcroft HS), finished third at the Bronco Invitational with a 5K time of 17:20. The time marks a season-best for Schultz, who has led the Aggie women across the finish line four times this year. Schultz’ third place finish helped New Mexico State to the team title, beating out 16 other squads.
Other Men’s Nominees: Sawyer Bosch, Boise State; Robert Selph, New Mexico State; Alfredo Coronado, San Jose State; Brian McKenna, Utah State.
Other Women’s Nominees: Shannon Porter, Boise State; Roxanne Sellick, Fresno State; Ashley Aitken, Hawai‘i; Jordan Burke, Nevada; Jessie Chugg, Utah State.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2009 WAC Cross Country Championship travels to Reno, Nevada. This year’s championships will be held Saturday, Oct. 31 at the Rancho San Rafael Park. Utah State swept both the men’s and women’s championships last year.
October 31, 2009
Reno, Nevada
Host: Nevada
Rancho San Rafael Park
Admission: Free
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2009 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country, Saturday, Nov. 14. WAC teams will be represented in three locations. The West Region will be held in Eugene, Ore. (University of Oregon). The Mountain Region will be held in Albuquerque, N.M. (University of New Mexico), while Louisiana Tech will be the lone team in the South Central Regional (Baylor) in Waco, Texas.
November 14, 2009
Great Lakes Region - Indiana University
Mid Atlantic Region - University of Maryland
Midwest Region - Missouri State University
Mountain Region - University of New Mexico
Northeast Region - Boston University
South Region - University of Alabama
South Central Region - Baylor University
Southeast Region - University of Louisville
West Region - University of Oregon
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – The 2009 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 23, 2009
Wabash Valley Family Sports Center
Terre Haute, Ind.
Host: Indiana State University
Ticket Info: 812/237-4040