THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Monday, October 3
Louisiana Tech at Northwestern State Invite, M-1st/6, W-5th/6
Friday, October 7
San Jose State at Gator Invitational, San Francisco
Saturday, October 8
New Mexico State at Grand Canyon Invitational, Goodyear
Hawai‘i at UH-Hilo Invitational, Hilo
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State competed at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind. on Friday afternoon ... the Invitational marked the longest journey the Bulldogs will encounter this season ... the men’s and women’s teams both competed strongly in the blue division against some of the toughest teams in the nation. Both teams finished in 26th place ... Eric Battles led the men’s team finishing 148th in a time of 26:02 while freshman, Lyndsie Etherton led the women’s team finishing 81st in a time of 18:03 ... the ‘Dogs get next week off before traveling to Santa Clara, Calif. on October 15.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
Through the midway point of the cross country season, the University of Hawai’i will take the short flight to the Big Island to compete in the UH-Hilo Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 8 in Hilo, Hawai’i ... the women’s 5K race begins at 8:00 a.m. at the Naniloa Volcanoes Resorts’ Golf and Country Club ... also participating along with UH are host UH-Hilo, Brigham Young-Hawai’i, Chaminade, Hawai’i Pacific, and Alaska-Fairbanks ... the Rainbow Wahine will send their top runners to the competition in preparation for the Western Athletic Conference Championship, which UH hosts in late October ... sophomore Kevyn Murphy was the team’s top finisher in the first two races of the season while sophomore Alison Williams took top team honors two weeks ago at the Stanford Invitational.
Idaho Vandals
Sophomore Hannah Kiser won the women’s 5000m race at the Dellinger Invite with a time of 16:45.71 to maintain her undefeated record in 2011 against collegiate competition ... more impressive than the time is the fact that she out-kicked a group that includes nationally- and regionally-ranked opponents ... as a team, the Idaho women took fifth with a team score of 131, behind nationally-ranked Oregon and regionally-ranked Wisconsin, Oregon State and Portland ... the Vandal men provided a well-balanced effort for the second meet in a row with four athletes in the top 24 overall and fourth-place team finish with 110 points ... senior Stephane Colle was the team’s top runner after finishing 14th overall with an 8000m time of 24:06.45.
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 ... 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 ... Chelsea Dressle finished 25th with a time of 28:53.56 and Taneka Henderson ran 29:58.91 to place 30th ... Louisiana Tech returns to action on Oct. 15 at the Choctaw Open in Miss.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada finished in second place at the UNLV Desert Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1, hosted at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City, Nev. ... Nevada was in competition for the first time since a home meet on Sept. 10, where the Wolf Pack also finished second at the Nevada Twilight ... the Pack scored 57 points, trailing the invitational champion Utah with 33 ... for the second consecutive meet, the Wolf Pack was lead by international transfer sophomore Johanna Olsson ... Olsson won Verizon WAC Athlete of the Week honors after leading the team in her first-ever meet in the Twilight and again led the Pack Saturday ... Olsson finished fifth with a time of 18:45 ... the Wolf Pack will take another week off and then return to action at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational hosted on Oct. 15 in Sunnyvale, Calif.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State made its presence known at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday, Oct. 1, with both teams finishing in the top 10 overall ... the women’s team finished seventh overall after lining up against some of the best athletes in the nation ... junior Courtney Schultz finished sixth overall with a time of 17:28.02 for the top time for NM State ... Schultz’s finish was a vast improvement from her 30th overall finish from 2009 when she was a freshman ... the men’s team finished 10th overall out of 28 teams that competed in the event ... junior Jonah Ruybalid finished first for the Aggies and 43rd overall with a time of 25:06.31.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State’s men finished in ninth place out of 15 teams in the 37th annual Willamette Invitational on October 1 in Salem, Ore. ... Juan Ruiz was the Spartans’ top-finisher coming in 50th place out of 161 entrees and completed the 8K course in 25:52.77 ... senior and team captain Sterling Granger was shortly behind Ruiz in 53rd place at 25:56.13 ... the women’s team finished in eighth place out of 16 teams ... Aylin Mejia was the Spartans’ highest finisher coming in 24th place in the field of 175 ... she finished the 5K course in 18:29.99 and notched her third consecutive race with a top-25 finish ... Elizabeth Raymond was next for San Jose State, coming in 33rd place and running the course in 18:39.59 ... SJSU has a quick turnaround and will compete in the Gator Invitational in San Francisco this Friday, October 7.
Utah State Aggies
tah State men’s finished 15th at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday with senior captain Brian McKenna being the highest finishing Aggie, ending the day in 33rd-place (24:48) ... the USU women tabbed a 27th-place finish ... other Aggie men finishing in the top 100 out of 200 runners included senior Daniel Howell who finished the race with a time of 24.51 in 40th-place along with sophomore Kyle McKenna in 89th-place (25:20) ... for the Utah State women, sophomore Hannah Williams was the only Aggie to cross the line in the top 100 as she finished with a time of 18:06, good enough for 86th-place ... action continues for the team as it travels to Madison, Wis., on Oct. 14 before preparing for the WAC Championships in Hawai’i on Oct. 29.
WAC NOTES
IDAHO’S COLLE AND KISER NAMED VERIZON WAC CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Idaho’s Stephane Colle and Hannah Kiser have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 26-Oct. 2.
Colle, a senior from St-Eustache, Quebec (Concordia), led Idaho’s men to a fourth place team finish at the Dellinger Invitational on Saturday after taking 14th overall and 11th among collegiate runners at the meet. Colle finished the 8K run with a time of 24:06.45, which is the fastest 8000m time in the WAC this season. Colle has been either Idaho’s first or second finisher in each meet so far this season.
Kiser, a sophomore from Wenatchee, Wash. (Wenatchee HS), won the women’s 5000m race at the Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Oregon this past week. Kiser won the event in a 95-runner field that included athletes from the host school, No. 17 Oregon and regionally-ranked Wisconsin, Oregon State, Portland, Southern Utah and Wichita State. Her time of 16:45.71 in the race is the only sub-17-minute 5K time in the WAC this season. Through three races this season, Kiser is remains undefeated against collegiate competition and hasn’t finished worse than second overall in any of the three races.
Other Men’s Nominees: Jonah Ruybalid, New Mexico State
Other Women’s Nominees: Lyndsie Etherton, Fresno State; Courtney Schultz, New Mexico State
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.