THIS WEEK IN WAC CROSS COUNTRY
The Seattle U men’s and women’s cross country teams take a first place finish at the Viking Classic this weekend helping the women’s team to a West Regional team ranking. Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley all compete this coming weekend while the other WAC schools rest at home.
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
Bakersfield competed at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational this weekend finishing in 12th overall… LaShya Morgan continued as Bakersfield’s leader for the ninth consecutive meet and managed to crack the Bakersfield Division I Top 10 performance list… Morgan finished the 6k course in a time of 23:41, strong enough for the seventh fastest 6k time since Bakersfield’s switch to Division I in 2007… freshman Angel Valdez just missed out on joining Morgan in the Top 10, finishing the course in 24:07, while Judith Mata holds the 10th fastest Division I time for Bakersfield at 24:07…Morgan finished this weekend 39th overall while Valdez placed 50th in the pool of 194 runners… Bakersfield rests this weekend as they travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif. on Oct. 18th for the Cal Poly Invitational.
Chicago State Cougars
The Chicago State Cougars competed at the Louisville Cross Country Classic this weekend… on the women’s side senior Oslyn Melissa Collins recorded a time of 20:28.59 to pace the Cougars in the women’s 5K Silver Division race to finish in 107th place... the Cougars finished 39th in the team standings for the Silver Division… on the men’s side sophomore DiJon Smith led the CSU men in the Silver Division by placing 79th in the 8K race with a time of 27:32.65… it is the first time that Smith has led the Cougars in a race this season... as a team, Chicago State finished 34th in the Silver Division… the Cougars travel to Kenosha, Wis., this Saturday for the Lucian Ross Invite, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Grand Canyon Lopes
Grand Canyon competed in the Rim Rock Farm Classic this weekend in Lawrence, Kans. where both the men’s and women’s teams finished 5th overall… the women’s team placed fifth in the race among Division I schools to mark their first 6k meet of the season…junior Kelsi Klotter led the Lopes with her 22nd place finish with a time of 23:14.4… sophomore Lacey Peterson and freshman Mariah Montoya were the next closest finishers for GCU at 25th and 28th respectively… on the men’s side senior Tyler Vandyke led the team with a seventh place finish and a time of 25:16… fellow senior Brandon Kocmoud was next in line at 26th, followed by Mathew Jackson at 29th… Chris Baker and Samuel Proctor rounded out the team times, having their strongest finishes so far this season… the Lopes compete again this weekend at the Thunderbird Invitational in Mesa, Ariz.
Kansas City Kangaroos
Saturday, the runners of the Kansas City Cross Country teams completed their races at the Rim Rock Farm Classic in Lawrence, Kans.… representing the ‘Roo women for the 6K race was sophomore Brooke Guiot with a time of 25:47… trailing right behind her was the rest of the squad Veronica Rollins (26:18), Janelle Johnson (26:59), Hannah Miller (28:03), and Florence Osei (28:12), all placing 60-65th, respectively… on the men’s side sophomore Bryce Miller crossed the finish line at sixth place with a time of 25:07 in the men’s 8K race... Griffin Humphreys, James Barnett, and Xavier Kenney followed, each finishing 19th (25:43), 26th (26:02), and 52nd (33:49) correspondingly overall… the Kangaroos will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 at the ISU Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana… the starting gun for the races is set to go off at 11 a.m.
New Mexico State Aggies
The New Mexico State men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Lawrence, Kan. to compete in the Rim Rock Farm Classic on Saturday, Oct. 4… during the meet, the women’s team placed third out of 12 competing schools, while the men finished fifth... seniors Hab Rubio and Diana Hawk led the men’s and women’s teams for the fifth consecutive meet that the Aggies have participated in… Hawk finished sixth overall with a time of 23:13.7 while teammate Crissey Amberg finished 16th with a time of 23:50.6… on the men’s side Rubio finished second overall with a time of 24:37.8 and Jereme Santisteven finished 14th overall with a time of 25:26… the Aggies will have a week off before travelling to Sunnyvale, Calif. to compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invite on Saturday, Oct. 18... the 8K men’s race will begin at 9 a.m. and the 6K women’s race will begin at 9:45 a.m.
Seattle University Redhawks
The Seattle University men’s and women’s cross country teams won the Viking Cross Country Classic… for the women Sophie Curatilo won the individual title and was one of just two runners to finish the three-mile course in under 17 minutes… Taylor de Laveaga and Lila Rice also earned top-10 finishes, with de Laveaga earning sixth place in 17:07.75 and Rice crossing the finish line in 10th place in 17:27.64… Seattle U is ranked 15th in the West Region in this week’s USTFCCCA Regional Rankings, the program’s first regional ranking since moving up to full Division I status… on the men’s side Gus Arroyo once again led the Redhawks, finishing in fourth place overall with a time of 25:07.98… Baxter Arguinchona finished in 11th place with a time of 25:43.72, and freshman Chay Weaver crossed the finish line in 15th place in 25:52.03… the Redhawks were able to win the meet in part because of the efforts of Joe Charbonneau, Matthew Seidel, and Collin Overbay, who worked together and ended up finishing one behind the other… Seattle U now prepares for its lone home meet of the season, the Emerald City Open Saturday, Oct. 18.
Texas-Pan American Broncs
While the women’s team rested this weekend the UTPA men’s cross country team competed at the 26th Annual Chile Pepper Festival which was the third meet in three weeks for the Broncs… Jose Juan Wells led the men’s team to an 18th place finish as he took 134th out of 430 runners with a time of 26:13.4 in the men’s 8k race… the Broncs will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 11th, as they travel to San Antonio, Texas for the UIW Invitational hosted by the University of the Incarnate Word… this will be the fourth meet in four weeks for the men’s team.
Utah Valley Wolverines
The last time the Wolverines ran was Sept. 20 at the UNLV Invitational where the women took first place and then men took second place... McKayla Morgan led the women across the finish line and was nominated as the WAC Athlete of the Week... Tyson Lambert led the men across the finish line for the third consecutive week in a row... after two weeks of rest, Utah Valley will compete this weekend at the Color Country Invitational in Cedar City on Friday Oct. 10. while the top runners stay home and rest, the younger athletes will be taking the reins at Southern Utah.