THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Friday, September 2
Nevada at Nevada Chase Race, Reno, Nev.
Fresno State at Nevada Chase Race, Reno, Nev.
Saturday, September 3
Utah State at Utah State Open, Logan, Utah
Hawai‘i at HPU Invitational, Kahalu’u, Hawaii
San Jose State at Notre Dame Invite, Crystal Springs, Calif.
Idaho at Inland Northwest Classic, Spokane
New Mexico State at Lobo Invitational, Albuquerque, N.M.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs
Oliver Collin was named the WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2011 ... coach Sean McManus is going on his fourth season as Fresno State’s cross country team and the track and field distance head coach ... both the men and women cross country runners finished in the top 10 at their last regular season meet at Santa Clara last season ... the Fresno State men’s and women’s cross country teams earned eight All-WAC Academic honors for the fall 2010 season. Four female student-athletes and four male student-athletes achieved on and off the cross country path ... six Fresno State men’s and women’s cross country team members competed in the NCAA West Regional last year.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
The University of Hawai’i women’s cross country team opens the 2011 season by participating in the Hawai’i Pacific Invitational, Saturday, Sept. 3 in Ka’a’awa, O’ahu ... the meet will be held on a 5K course near Kualoa Ranch and will include the state’s other Division II teams, including host HPU, as well as Alaska-Anchorage ... nearly the entire cross country team will participate, including top returnees sophomores Kevyn Murphy and Alison Williams ... Murphy and Williams were among the team’s top five finishers in each race last season ... coach Althea Belgrave is in her fourth season in charge of the distance runners while head coach track and field and cross country coach Carmyn James begins her 11th season.
Idaho Vandals
The Idaho men’s cross country team returns every runner from last year’s team that finished fifth and produced two first-team All-WAC runners in Markus Geiger and Barry Britt ... Britt was also honored as a USTFCCCA All-Region selection and was selected to the Canada senior men’s national team for the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships ... Idaho’s women return all but two runners from last year’s WAC Champion group, including first-team All-WAC performers, senior Lauren Schaffer and sophomore Hannah Kiser. Seniors Anna Kalbrener and Julia Veseth also scored regularly for Idaho throughout the 2010 season, as did junior Laurel Draper.
Louisiana Tech
Notes not available.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada opens the season at home this weekend, hosting the Nevada Chase Race ... the event will take place at Rancho San Rafael ... the Wolf Pack placed sixth at last year’s WAC Championship in Moscow, Idaho ... Samantha Diaz returns to the squad after finishing ninth at last season’s WAC championship ... the team will also host the Nevada Twilight Classic on Sept. 10 at Shadow Mountain Park.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State will kick off the 2011 season by traveling up to Albuquerque, N.M. for the annual Lobo Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 3 ... NM State made an impressive outing last year at the Lobo Invitational with three Aggies from the women’s team posting school record times for the event ... twins Courtney and Camille Schultz, along with Chelsa McDonnell all finished with times under 18:25 for the 5K ... the previous best time for the event was 18:45 ... last year five different Aggies from the men’s team finished with better times than the top time from an Aggie for the 8K from 2009.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State hits the ground running in the first meet of the 2011 season this Saturday at the Notre Dame Invitational in Crystal Springs, Calif. ... women’s cross country will open the day of racing at the Battle of the Bay at 10 a.m. on the 5K dirt trail course, while the men’s side will run the 4.2 mile JC course beginning at 10:45 a.m. ... Kate Lambdin and Elizabeth Raymond return to the Battle of the Bay for the Spartans where they finished first and second respectively in 2010 leading San Jose State to a team victory ... the Spartan men’s team was also victorious at this event last year ... Sterling Granger finished second only to his teammate Alfredo Coronado in the 2010 event and returns this year as a senior and the team captain.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State’s men’s cross country team has won five WAC Championships (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and returns three seniors, including the 2009 WAC Male Athlete of the Year in senior Brian McKenna ... other all-WAC performers returning from a year ago include senior Daniel Howell who was named first-team all-WAC and junior Aaron Clements who was named to the second-team ... Utah State’s women’s cross country team finished second at the 2010 WAC Championships and won team titles in 2006 and 2008 ... USU’s women return one senior, Kim Quinn, along with junior Ruth Hilton who earned first-team all-WAC honors a year ago ... sophomore Kaylee Campbell also returns after garnering second-team all-WAC accolades in 2010.
WAC NOTES
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.
November 21, 2011
Wabash Valley Family Sports Center
Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Ind.
Ticket Info: 812/877-1388