THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Saturday, October 15
Louisiana Tech at Choctaw Open, Clinton, Miss.
Fresno State at Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara, Calif.
Idaho at Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara, Calif.
Hawai‘i at Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara, Calif.
San Jose State at Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara, Calif.
Nevada at Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara, Calif.
Utah State at Wisconsin Invitational, Madison, Wisc.
Sunday, October 16
New Mexico State at Pre National Meet, Terre Haute, Ind.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State did not compete last week ... the Bulldogs head to the Bay Area this weekend for their final meet of the regular season this Saturday ... the Bronco Invitational will be held in Santa Clara, Calif. ... this weekend will be Fresno State’s opportunity to make some adjustments before the WAC Championships later this month ... the women will run a 5K while the men take on the 8K course ... both the men’s and women’s team were very successful at the Bronco Invitational in 2010 finishing within the top 10 ... this weekend marks the ‘Dogs fourth consecutive season at the Bronco Invitational and after having a break last weekend they are ready to go.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai‘i placed third at the UH-Hilo Invitational Saturday at the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort Golf and Country Club ... three Rainbow Wahine placed in the Top 10 led by sophomore Kevyn Murphy who took fourth completing the 5K course in 19:26, three seconds ahead of junior Ashlee Jimenez, who placed seventh. Freshman Louise Mulvey placed 10th at 19:39, her first career career Top 10 finish ... as a team, UH placed third, behind winner Alaska-Fairbanks (37 pts.) and BYU-Hawai’i (43) ... UH will make its annual trip to the Bay Area for the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, Saturday ... the Rainbow Wahine will compete in the event for the seventh consecutive year ... the women’s 5K race begins at 9:45 a.m. PT (6:45 a.m. HT) at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Calif ... there will be more than 30 teams competing.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho cross country did not compete last weekend … this week, the main group of Vandal runners will travel to Santa Clara, Calif., for the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, while a smaller group will compete at the Northwest Cross Country Invitational on Friday at Spokane, Wash.
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech’s men’s cross country team claimed the team title Saturday as Tech won the Northwestern State Invitational in Natchitoches ... LA Tech’s women’s team ran to a fifth-place finish ... Josh Slocum paced the men’s squad with an 8k time of 26:21.12 while Kyle Davis ran 26:29.75 to finish sixth. Steven Cortez ran 27:08.34 to finish ninth while Matt Wolfe finished 12th with a time of 27:34.61 ... on the women’s side, Mary Kate Hays led Tech with a 6k time of 26:04.64 to place 11th overall, leading Tech in its fifth-place finish ... LA Tech returns to action when Tech runs at the Choctaw Open in Clinton, Miss. Saturday.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada did not compete last week ... the Wolf Pack returns to action at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational hosted on Oct. 15 in Santa Clara, Calif.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State’s men’s and women’s teams each placed third at the Grand Canyon Invitational on Saturday ... the men’s squad for NM State finished in third place with a score of 90 ... sophomore Kevin Palmer finished eighth overall with a time of 25:47.9 and junior Anthony Ellis finished 10th overall and second for NM State with a time of 25:55.7 ... the women’s squad for NM State scored 88 points overall, good for third place ... the women’s team was led by freshman Caroline Lewiecki who finished with a time of 19:38.7, which was good for 14th overall ... NMSU will return to Las Cruces to prepare for the Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind., on Sunday, Oct. 16.
San Jose State Spartans
The SJSU men’s cross country team finished in tenth place at the San Francisco State Invitational in Golden Gate Park ... Hector Lopez-Garcia was the Spartans’ top runner ... the sophomore finished in 53rd place and completed the eight-kilometer course in 27:19.9 ... the SJSU women’s cross country finished with a team score of 262 and came in eighth place out of 13 teams in the San Francisco State Invite ... Marissa Buckley was the Spartans’ top finisher in 46th place, running the six-kilometer race in 24:52.4 ... San Jose State returns to action for their final regular season race at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, October 15.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State did not compete last week ... the team returns to action as it travels to Madison, Wis., on Oct. 14 for the Wisconsin Invitational before preparing for the WAC Championships in Hawai’i on Oct. 29.
WAC NOTES
NEW MEXICO STATE’S PALMER AND HAWAI‘I’S MURPHY NAMED VERIZON WAC CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State’s Kevin Palmer and Hawai‘i’s Kevyn Murphy have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 3-9.
Palmer, a sophomore from Albuquerque, N.M. (Eldorado HS), posted his best overall finish of the season at the Grand Canyon Invitational last week. Palmer placed eighth overall with an 8K time of 25:47.9, beating out athletes from No. 23 Arizona State and Arizona.
Murphy, a sophomore from Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Arizona State), led UH with a fourth place finish at the UH-Hilo Invitational with a 5K time of 19:26. The time marks her third top-10 finish in four races this season and fifth of her career. Murphy has finished as UH’s top finisher in all three of Hawai‘i’s 5K races this season.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2011 WAC Cross Country Championship travels to Honolulu, Hawaii. This year’s championships will be hosted by the University of Hawaii and will take place at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 29. The Utah State men and New Mexico State women claimed the championships last year.
October 29, 2011
Honolulu, Hawaii
Host: University of Hawaii
Course: Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, Marine Corps Base
Admission: Free - All spectators must contact the head coach of the team they are supporting or the WAC office (bjones@wac.org) in order to be included on a pass list to enter the Marine Base. All names must be submitted by Friday, Oct. 14.
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2011 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country, Saturday, Nov. 12. WAC teams will be represented in three locations. The West Region will be held in Palo Alto, Calif. (Stanford). The Mountain Region will be held in Provo, Utah (Brigham Young), while Louisiana Tech will be the lone team in the South Central Regional (Baylor) in Waco, Texas.
November 12, 2011
Great Lakes Region -Toledo
Mid Atlantic Region - Maryland-Eastern Shore
Midwest Region - Nothern Illinois
Mountain Region - Brigham Young
Northeast Region - Buffalo
South Region - Alabama
South Central Region - Baylor
Southeast Region - Louisville
West Region - Stanford
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – The 2011 Cross Country National Championships once again travels to Terre Haute, Ind. The race will take place at the Lavern Gibson championship cross country course on Nov. 21.