THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 10
Hawai‘i at Big Wave Invitational, Kane’ohe
Fresno State at Hornet Jamboree, Sacramento
New Mexico State at Lori Fitzgerald Invite, Santa Teresa
Nevada at Nevada Twilight, Reno
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs
The Fresno State men’s cross country team ran to a second-place finish and the women’s squad grabbed third in a four-team Nevada Chase cross country race in Reno, Nev. last week ... the Bulldogs’ Eric Battles earned second individually in the men’s competition with a time of 19:54 in the 6K race while Ann Poythress was third in the 3-mile women’s race (19:03) ... in the men’s Chase Race, Fresno State finished with 47 points - 16 points behind winner UCLA and two points ahead of UC Riverside ... in the women’s race, Fresno State tallied 61 points while defeating the host Nevada Wolf Pack, but fell to UC Riverside (27) and UCLA (54) ... Battles was named WAC Athlete of the Week .
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai’i opened the 2011 season by finishing third at the Hawai’i Pacific Invitational Saturday in Ka’a’awa Valley ... sophomore Kevyn Murphy was the team’s top finisher, placing eighth overall ... the Manhattan Beach, Calif., native completed the 5K course in 19:20 just ahead of teammate Alison Williams, who placed 12th at 19:45 ... two other Rainbow Wahine placed in the Top 20 as newcomer Louise Mulvey was 17th at 20:03 while junior Ashlee Jimenez followed closely in 19th at 20:10 ... newcomer Ariana Horton rounded out the top five, placing 22nd at 20:43 ... Alaska-Anchorage captured the team title with six runners finishing in the Top 10. UAA’s Ruth Keino crossed the finish line in 18:22 to take the individual title over teammate Susan Tanui at 18:27.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho’s women took second in the team standings and put five runners in the top 14 at the Inland Northwest Cross Country Classic on Saturday … Hannah Kiser was the top collegiate finisher in the race, and three of Idaho’s top five runners were sophomores … Idaho finished second only to Washington State, and only by a 10-point margin (31-41) … Idaho’s next action will be in two weeks at the Sundodger Invitational (Seattle, Wash.) … Idaho’s men took second out of five teams at the Inland Northwest Cross Country Classic on Saturday … the Vandals put three runners in the top 11 and scored 65 points.
Louisiana Tech
Notes not available.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada opened the 2011 season at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno on Friday night and placed fourth with 83 points ... Nevada was using the meet as a training tune-up, holding out the majority of its top lineup runners ... UC Riverside won the meet with 27 points, UCLA was second with 54, with Fresno State third scoring 61 points ... UC Riverside’s Jaasmin Pina won the meet finishing 18:35 over UCLA’s Sarah Toberty at 18:58 ... Nevada was led by freshman Caitlin Devitt-Payne who placed fourth, running 19:14. Gloria Sosa was next in for the Wolf Pack, placing 14th at 19:49. Amber Karnofel was 18th at 20:22, Katie Romanko placed 23rd at 20:37, Nicole Painter 24th at 20:50, Katrina Ratkowiak was 25th at 21:20 and Lauren Hunsaker was 27th at 22:30.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State opened up the season with strong performances by both sides at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, Sept. 3 ... two Aggies finished in the top five for the women’s 5K ... Courtney Schultz finished 4th with a time of 18:02.9 and Camille Schultz finished 5th with a time of 18:18.6 ... Tamara Lementino also earned an impressive time, finishing in 19:14.7 for 10th place ... overall, eight Aggies finished in the top 20 and 15 Aggies finished in the top 30 ... on the men’s side, Jonah Ruybalid earned the best time for an Aggie by finishing 5th overall with a time of 25:21.8 in the 8K.
San Jose State Spartans
All five scorers for the SJSU women finished inside the top-10 lifting the Spartans to a first place finish for the second straight year at the Battle of the Bay Cross Country Invitational in Crystal Springs, Calif. ... Aylin Mejia in her first career race with the Spartans took first place individually finishing the 5K course in 23:12 ... the SJSU men finished in second out of seven teams in the 2011 Battle of the Bay ... the Spartans finished second to San Francisco State who won the invitational with a team score of 25 ... freshman Mueen Ghoury was the San Jose State’s top finisher, coming in second place (21:48), twenty seconds behind the winner Cristian Soratos of Hartnell College ... San Jose State’s next race is on September 17 at the UC Riverside Invitational.
Utah State Aggies
Senior Brian McKenna was USU’s highest finisher, placing fifth (21:06.7), at the Utah State Cross Country Open to lead the Aggie men to a second-place finish Saturday, at the American West Heritage Center south of Logan .... the Aggie women, who were led by sophomore Hannah Williams in 11th-place (18:05.8), placed fourth overall in the season opening meet for both teams ... the women ran a 5k race, while the men ran a 7k race ... joining McKenna in the men’s top 10 for the Aggies were sophomore Kyle McKenna in sixth (21:06.9) and senior Daniel Howell in seventh (21:09.1) ... USU will continue its season as it travels to Bozeman, Mont. for the Montana State Open on Sept. 17 at 9 a.m.
WAC NOTES
FRESNO STATE’S BATTLES AND SAN JOSE STATE’S MEJIA NAMED CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Fresno State’s Eric Battles and San Jose State’s Aylin Mejia have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Aug. 29 - Sept. 4.
Battles, a junior from Fresno, Calif. (Clovis West HS), placed second individually at the Nevada Chase race in Reno this past week. Battles earned the No. 2 spot with a 6K-time of 19:54. Battles finished just three seconds behind the lead runner. Battles helped Fresno State to a second place team finish at the event.
Mejia, a sophomore from San Diego, Calif. (Sweet Water HS), won the Battle of the Bay individual title in her first career race with the Spartans, finishing the 5K course in 23:12. Mejia’s first place finish helped the Spartans to the team title for the second straight year.
Other Men’s Nominees: Markus Geiger, Idaho; Jonah Ruybalid, New Mexico State; Brian McKenna, Utah State.
Other Women’s Nominees: Ann Poythress, Fresno State; Hannah Kiser, Idaho; Courtney Schultz, New Mexico State; Hannah Williams, Utah 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.
November 21, 2011
Wabash Valley Family Sports Center
Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Ind.
Ticket Info: 812/877-1388