THIS WEEK IN WAC CROSS COUNTRY
The Grand Canyon women’s team has a solid second place finish this weekend while the Wolverine’s men’s and women’s team finish second at the Color Country Invitational. Texas-Pan American rests this week while the other seven teams compete on the road for their last weekend of competition before the WAC Championships at UTPA.
FRERICHS HEADLINES CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK - SEPT. 15
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Monday afternoon its National Athletes of the Week for this past weekend of college cross country action. Of them, UMKC’s Courtney Frerichs was selected as the Division 1 female honoree.
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to six collegiate cross country athletes (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.
SEATTLE U WOMEN EARN WEEKLY REGIONAL RECOGNITION - OCT. 6
The Seattle U women’s cross country team earned USTFCCCA recognition after being ranked in the top 15 of the regional rankings.
Seattle U appeared in the women’s West Region rankings placing 15th, marking their first regional ranking since moving up to full Division I status.
USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning team strength with current-season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.
TEAM NOTES
Bakersfield Roadrunners
The ‘Runners finished 11th this weekend at the Mustang Challenge in Santa Clarita, Calif… LaShya Morgan paced the ‘Runners in her eighth collegiate and eighth consecutive race, posting a collegiate-best time of 19:24.3 in the 5k race, lowering her previous best by over seven seconds… Morgan finished 39th in the pool of 169 runners… sophomore Ariana Mariscal shattered her previous collegiate-best mark of 21:11.9 with a time of 19:51.1 this weekend… freshman Angel Valdez continues to run strong as Bakersfield’s number-three, finishing just five seconds behind Mariscal (19:56.5) in the fastest race of her young, collegiate career… Bakersfield will compete again on Oct. 4 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, Calif.
Chicago State Cougars
The Cougars competed at the Lucian Rosa Invite on Saturday… the CSU women had four runners compete at the Wisconsin-Parkside 5k race…Leeza Campbell finished first for the Cougars finishing 202nd overall with a time of 22:33.2 and following behind her was teammate Veronica Tovar who finished 227th with a time of 23:20.7… on the men’s side only two runners competed… Desmond Meyer finished 96th overall with a time of 27:23.0 and teammate Andrew Huff finished just behind him in 176th place with a time of 29:18.7 in the 8k race… the Cougars will close out the non-championship portion of their schedule this Friday at the Bradley University Pink Classic in Peoria, Ill.
Grand Canyon Lopes
The Lopes women’s team finished strong in second place at the Thunderbird Classic on Saturday with three athletes finishing in the top-10…freshman Mariah Montoya led the Lopes with a third place finish and a time of 18:27.6, giving her a new personal record… Fellow freshman Kellie Stroupe came in with a time of 19:22.6 to finish seventh while junior Keely Martin placed 10th with a time of 19:43.7… rounding out the top-five finishers was sophomore Natalie Cardwell placing 14th with a time of 20:14.3 and Taylor Bond who placed 22nd (20:37.3)… the men’s team finished fifth in the 8k race… junior Patrick Hardwick led the Lopes with a 13th place finish and a time of 27:05.9 while senior Tyler Vandyke finished 16th with a time of 27:35.3… Trent Andrews, Joshua Munoz and Kalen Meza closed out the rest of Grand Canyon’s top-five… the Lopes will compete this Saturday at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, Calif.
Kansas City Kangaroos
Both of the Kansas City Cross Country teams competed in the 29th Annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday… senior Courtney Frerichs was the only runner able to place in the top ten overall for both of the teams in which she came in seventh with a time of 21:19 in the women’s 6k… next to finish for UMKC was freshman Chandler Carreon (24:13) and sophomores Sarah Fogarty (24:37), Katie Tuck (24:41) and Megan Mills (24:49)… there were a total of 390 Division I runners for the women’s race… on the men’s side, junior Kolton Sheldon led the team coming in 78th place with a time of 26:17 in the men’s 8k… following him was senior Taylor Wardall (27:13) as well as freshman Jason Fambrough (27:14) and senior Alex Nail (28:05)…including UMKC, the men’s race comprised of a total of 301 Division I runners… UMKC will travel to their next competition in Lawrence, Kans. for the Rim Rock Classic on Saturday, Oct. 4th.
New Mexico State Aggies
The Aggies competed at the Lori Fitzgerald meet on Friday in El Paso, Texas where the women’s team took first against UTEP while the men’s team fought hard but came in second against the Miners… Senior Diana Hawk led the women’s team for the fourth consecutive meet placing second overall with a time of 20:17.45 in the 5500 meter race… teammate Megan McNally followed Hawk placing third overall with a time of 21:32.24… on the men’s side Hab Rubio also led the Aggies for his fourth consecutive meet placing sixth overall with a time of 17:46.61… Nathan Starr finished eighth overall for the men’s team with a time of 18:13.6… New Mexico State will travel to Lawrence, Kan. to compete in the Rim Rock Farm Classic this weekend.
Seattle University Redhawks
The Seattle University cross country team competed at the Sundodger Invitational this weekend where the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth overall… the women’s team was led by senior Sophie Curatilo who finished in 17th place overall with a time of 21:44, 12 seconds faster than her mark at the same event last year… Curatilo was followed by teammate Taylor de Laveaga who finished in 21st place at 21:58 and Elena Smith in 27th place with a time of 22:32… the men’s cross country team was led by junior Gus Arroyo as the team’s top finisher, who placed 21st overall with a time of 25:24… Arroyo was followed by teammate Baxter Arguinchona in 22nd place at 25:30…the next five finishers for Seattle U were freshman competing in their first collegiate 8k race… Seattle U next competes at the Viking Cross Country Classic on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Texas-Pan American Broncs
After a week off from competition, the UTPA women’s team competed at the UIW Invitational where they finished fifth overall… it was the first time this season that freshman Jennifer Zapata competed in a 6k race, finishing in 10th overall out of 134 runners posting a time of 23:31.2… Zapata recorded the best time and finish on the women’s team out of all three meets this season for the Broncs…fellow freshman Teresa Sova finished in 34th place after finishing with a time of 24:53.7 while teammate Alexandria Munoz posted a 55th place finish with a time of 25:46.4… on the men’s side the UIW Invitational was the fourth straight meet in four weeks for the Broncs where they finished fifth overall as a team… freshman Ricardo Granados led the way with a 47th place finish out of 171 runners posting a time of 26:37.5 with fellow teammate P.J. Izaguirre behind him posting a time of 27:10.4… Martin Perez finished in 70th place with a time of 27:24.7 while teammate Mario Guerrero recorded a time of 29:06.5 to finish in 105th… the Broncs have some time off as they prepare to host the Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Nov. 1.
Utah Valley Wolverines
The UVU women took second place at the Color Country Invitational this Saturday without three of their top runners who either did not compete or did not complete the race... the race at SUU was a short 4K, and the Wolverines are better prepared for the 5K and 6K courses, and their depth came through to snag second place... Makayla Stepp led the Wolverines finishing in fifth place with a time of 15:35.2… junior Darian Sharp was right behind Stepp with a seventh place finish and a time of 15:43.2… the Utah Valley men have had consistent second place finishes at the UNLV Invitational, the Color Country Invitational and a third place finish at the Utah State invitational… Logan Petty paced the squad and fought for a fourth place finish overall and brought in the Wolverines… Trevor Sharp followed a couple seconds later in 14th place with a time of 20:47.7… both the men and the women will be back in action at the Santa Clara Invitational in Sunnyvale, California on October 18th.