THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Friday, October 21
Louisiana Tech at Demon Invitational, Natchitoches, La.
Saturday, October 22
Hawai‘i at Chaminade Invitational, Waipi’o, Hawaii
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs
Both the men and women’s teams competed at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, finishing their final meet of the regular season ... Lyndsie Etherton, finished 14th with a time of 17:35 ... Ann Poythress trailed behind Etherton and led; Marrijtje Molenhuis, Meagan Paracholski, Carina Mendoza, Kristen Galvez, and Saylah Barserian ... on the men’s side, Paul Zwama led the Bulldogs finishing 28th with a time of 24:38 ... Eric Battles finished within the top competitors followed by; Olivier Bernard, Carson Keller, Michael Jamieson, Chriss Grimble, and Kevin Poythress ... the women’s team placed eighth and the men placed 11th.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai‘i placed third in the open division of the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational Saturday ... the Rainbow Wahine placed three runners in the Top 20 and finished third among 20 teams with 92 points ... Kevyn Murphy, the reigning WAC Athlete of the Week, was fourth overall, completing the 5K course in 18:28.2 ... junior Ashlee Jimenez posted her second straight Top 10 finish, placing 10th with a time of 18:52.1 ... Alison Williams finished 18th at 19:14.0 followed by Liisa Cushing (19:32.4, 28th), Celeste Almaraz (19:36.3, 32nd), Megan Dart (19:48.5, 29th), and Ariana Horton (19:49.3, 41st) ... UH’s “B” team will next compete in the Chaminade Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 22 before the WAC Championships, Saturday, Oct. 29, which the Ranbow Wahine will host at the Kane’ohe Klipper Golf Course.
Idaho Vandals
Hannah Kiser, a second-year Vandal, showed no signs of slowing down from her break-neck pace so far this season with an individual title in the women’s invitational race at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational on Saturday ... with a time of 16:55.3, Kiser was the only runner in the field of 175 to finish the 5000m race in less than 17 minutes and outdistanced the next-best collegiate runner by more than a 12-second margin, leading the Vandal women to a fourth-place team finish at the meet with a score of 126 ... junior Barry Britt led the men’s team with a 16th overall, 15th among collegians in the field of 167, with a time of 24:21.5 on the 8000m course ... as a team, the Idaho men finished fifth with a score of 191.
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech’s men’s team, paced by top-10 finishes by Alwayne Green and Josh Slocum, ran to a third place finish out of 14 schools Saturday at the Choctaw Open hosted by Mississippi College in Clinton ... Tech’s women’s team finished 12th ... Green’s time of 26:38.95 placed him fifth overall while Slocum finished seventh with a time of 26:44.11 ... the men’s team placed third overall in a crowded field of 14 schools, scoring 62 points ... on the women’s side, Mary Kate Hays was once again Tech’s top finisher with a time of 21:19.68 as she placed 36th. Chelsea Dressel ran 22:14.26 to finish 57th.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada placed 16th at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara University Saturday ... Nevada scored 405 points in the 21-team invitational ... for the third-straight meet, Nevada was led by sophomore Johanna Olsson who placed 47th running 18:12.0 ... senior Jenifer McEntire was 54th at 18:15.9 ... freshman Caitlin Devitt-Payne ran 18:27.0 good enough for 77th while juniors Gloria Sosa (18:50.6) and Nicole Painter (18:56.4) placed 111 and 116, respectively ... next for the Wolf Pack will be the WAC Championships hosted by the University of Hawai`i on October 29 in Honolulu, Hawaii ... while the Pack will compete for a conference championship next week, it still has one more regular season meet competing at the Doc Adams Invitational on Nov. 5 in Davis, Calif.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State sent its top athletes to the Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind., and finished with impressive results ... the Schultz sisters improved from the previous year by almost cracking into the top 25 ... junior Courtney Schultz finished 27th overall and first for NM State with a time of 21:29 in the 5K while junior Camille Schultz finished 31st and second for NM State with a time of 21:36 ... on the men’s side, Junior Jonah Ruybalid finished 73rd overall and first for NM State with a time of 25:27 in the 8K ... the Aggies get a week off to prepare for the Western Athletic Conference Championships set for Saturday, Oct. 29, in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
San Jose State Spartans
The SJSU men’s cross country team crossed the line in tenth place out of 20 teams in their final regular season race of the year at the Bronco Invitational on October 15 in Sunnyvale, Calif ... Kellen Cole led the Spartans for the second time this season ... the sophomore finished the 8K course through Baylands Regional Park in 26:46.6 and finished in 43rd place ... the SJSU women finished in 10th place out of 17 teams in the Open and in 21st place as a team in the Invitational ... Sasha Martinez and Aylin Mejia were San Jose State’s top finishers in each race. Martinez, in the open, completed the 5K course through Baylands Regional Park in 20:06.0 and finished in 52nd place ... the Bronco Invitational was the Spartans’ last race before they head off to Hawai’I to compete in the WAC Championship on October 29.
Utah State Aggies
Senior captain Brian McKenna led the Utah State men’s cross country team to a fourth-place finish at the University of Arkansas hosted Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday as he finished 15th out of 288 runners with a time of 30:09.5 ... USU’s women took home a 14th-place finish with sophomore Hannah Williams leading the charge as she crossed the finish line in 81st-place (22:16.1) ... the men ran a 10-kilometer race while the women competed in a six-kilometer race at University of Arkansas’ off-road course at Agricultural Park in Washington County ... action continues for USU’s men and women’s cross country teams as they travel to Honolulu for the 2011 WAC Championship on Oct. 29.
WAC NOTES
UTAH STATE’S MCKENNA AND IDAHO’S KISER NAMED VERIZON WAC CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Utah State’s Brian McKenna and Idaho’s Hannah Kiser have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 10-16.
McKenna, a senior from Farmington, Utah (Viewmont HS), finished 15th out of 288 runners with a 10K time of 30:09.5 at the Chile Pepper Festival hosted by Arkansas last week. McKenna helped the Utah State men to a fourth-place team finish at the event. McKenna has been Utah State’s top finisher each week throughout the season.
Kiser, a sophomore from Wenatchee, Wash. (Wenatchee), extended her unbeaten streak to four meets on Saturday with a first place finish at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, Calif. Kiser was the only runner in the field of 175 to finish with a sub-17 minute time and outdistanced the nearest collegiate finisher by a 12-second margin. She helped Idaho to a fourth place team finish out of 21 teams at the event.
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.