THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
Friday, September 26
Chicago State at College of DuPage Invite Warrenville, Wis.
Saturday, September 27
UTPA at Islander Splash Corpus Christi, Texas
WEEK 4 RESULTS
Saturday, September 20
Bakersfield at The Mustang Challenge W 11th/17
Grand Canyon at The Mustang Challenege W 6th/17, M 8th/17
New Mexico State at Kachina Classic W 1st/3, M 3rd/3
Seattle U at Sundog Invitational W 4th/_, M 4th/_
UTPA at Texas Lutheran Univ. Invitational W 10th/10, M 11th/11
Utah Valley at UNLV Invitational W 1st/4, M 2nd/3
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, SEPT. 17-23
Utah Valley’s McKayla Morgan and Seattle U’s Gus Arroyo have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 16-22.
Morgan, a freshman from Riverton, Utah (Riverton HS), led the Utah Valley women’s cross country team to a first place finish at the UNLV Invitational. Morgan finished second overall with a time of 17:41.5 on the 5k course leading her teammates across the finish line to complete the race with the almost perfect score of 20.
Arroyo, a junior from Portland, Oregon (Douglas HS), led the Redhawks finishing 21st at the Sundodger Invitational. Arroyo was once again the team’s top finisher, crossing the finish line in 21st place with a time of 25:24. That mark is 21 seconds faster than the time Arroyo earned at this meet last year.
Other Women’s Nominees: New Mexico State… Senior Diana Hawk finished first for the Aggies, earning a personal best early in the season with a time of 19:01.34 in the 5k race… Seattle U… Senior Sophie Curatilo led the Seattle U women finishing in 17th place overall with a time of 21:44 in the 6k race… Grand Canyon…Junior Kelsi Klotter finished 25th at the Mustang Challenge with a time of 19:07.8… Bakersfield… Sophomore LaShya Morgan paced the ‘Runners finishing 39th at the Mustang Challenge with a time of 19:24.3.
Other Men’s Nominees: Utah Valley… Freshman Tyson Lambert led the Wolverines across the finish line placing fourth overall with a time of 19:24.9 at the UNLV Invitational… New Mexico State… Senior Daniel Rubio finished first for the Aggies with a time of 15:35.92 placing fourth overall at the Kachina Classic 5k… Grand Canyon… Senior Brandon Kocmoud earned an impressive sixth place finish with a time of 26:07.1 to mark the ‘Lopes first 8k of the season at the Mustang Challenge… Texas-Pan American… Graduate student Luis Serrano finished in 33rd out of 122 runners as he posted a time of 19:20.3 in the Texas A&M Invitational 6k.
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 very well this weekend at the Bradley Intercollegiate with the women winning three of three duals and the men winning two of their three duals… Chicago State competed against Bradley, Eastern Illinois, and Western Illinois and scored each as separate dual meets… senior Oslyn Collins led the women’s team finishing 17th in the women’s three-mile race with a time of 19:29.6… on the men’s side, sophomore Charles Blackhawk helped the Cougars finish third in the 8k race after finishing 11th overall with a time of 25:57.7… the Cougars will be idle from competition until Sept. 26 when they travel to Warrenville, Ill. for the College of DuPage Invite.
Grand Canyon Lopes
The Lopes earned a sixth place women’s team finish and the men earned an eighth place team finish at the Mustang Challenge on Friday… the women’s team had a top finish to mark their first 5k of the season with junior Kelsi Klotter leading the Lopes with a time of 19:07.8…freshman Mariah Montoya and sophomore Lacey Peterson were not far behind, placing 33rd and 38th with times of 19:15.2 and 19:15.9, respectively…the men’s team was led by senior Brandon Kocmoud with an impressive eight place finish with a time of 26:07.1 … teammate Tyler Vandyke also had a stellar run and finished 11th with a time of 26:22.6… Mathew Jackson, Chris Baker and Samuel Proctor rounded out the team scores for the Lopes…Grand Canyon will continue their season at the Rim Rock Farm Classic hosted by Kansas in Lawrence, Kans., on Oct. 4.
Kansas City Kangaroos
The UMKC Cross Country team finished in the top five with their debut in the Forest Park XC Festival on Friday… the women’s team came in fifth out of the thirteen teams that competed in the 5k race… senior Courtney Frerichs represented the ‘Roos most exceptionally in the event, placing first with a school record time of 16:55… also contributing points were Sarah Fogarty (18th), Chandler Carreon (21st), and Kelly Carpenter (28th)… leading the pack for the men was the junior from Raytown, Mo., Kolton Sheldon finishing sixth overall with a time of 18:46 in the 6k… freshman Jason Fambrough recorded a time of 19:29, crossing the finish line at 13th place, while senior Alex Nail finished 19th… the Kansas City men finished fourth out of the eleven teams… the UMKC cross country teams will travel to St. Paul, Minn., to compete in the 29th Annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday, Sep. 27 with the University of Minnesota.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State hosted the Kachina Classic 5k at home this weekend as the women’s team earned a first place finish and the men’s team finishing third… the women’s team finished first totaling 34 points against El Paso Community College and UTEP with four runners placing in the top-10 out of 32 runners that competed…senior Diana Hawk was the top runner for New Mexico State coming in second place overall with a time of 19:01.34… teammate Megan McNally finished second for the Aggies during the classic… on the men’s side senior Hab Rubio led the Aggies to a third place overall finish with a time of 15:35.92 with the team finishing third at the meet… teammate Jereme Santistevan finished second for the Aggies during the classic… the Aggies will travel to El Paso, Texas to compete in the Lori Fitzgerald Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 27.
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
The Broncs competed against nine regionally ranked schools this weekend at the Texas A&M Invitational where the men finished 11th place and the women finishing 10th place as a team… freshman Jennifer Zapata led the way for the women’s team with a 52nd place finish after posting a time of 15:44.3 in the 4k race…freshman Teresa Sova followed with a 96th place finish and a time of 17:07.1... graduate assistant Luis Serrano paced the men’s team with a 33rd place finish at a time of 19:20.3 in the 6k race… Leo Dominguez posted a 62nd place finish with a time of 19:51.5 and teammate Jose Juan Wells finished in 82nd place with a time of 20:12.6… the Broncs will travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the Islanders Splash on September 26 marking the first time this season that they compete on back-to-back weeks.
Utah Valley Wolverines
The Utah Valley women’s cross country team had an exceptional weekend taking a first place team finish at the UNLV Invitational on Friday… freshman McKayla Morgan led the Wolverines finishing second overall with a time of 17:41.5 on the 5k course… she was followed by Ivie Gonzalves (17:41.9), Darian Sharp (17:42.1) and McKayla Stepp (17.48.8)… the men’s team finished in second behind SUU as Tyson Lambert led the men with a fourth place finish overall at a time of 19:24.9… Lambert was followed by Trac Norris (19:25.2), Logan Petty (19:25.2), Brenden Emery (19:25.8), Seth Gutzwiller (19:26.3) and Chris Bower (19:39.2)…the top 5 Utah Valley men had a 2.4 second split and finished 4th-8th places respectively on the 6.3k course… next weekend the Wolverines travel to SUU, where most of the younger runners will compete…the top performers will rest and then compete again in two weeks at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif.
THIS WEEK IN WAC CROSS COUNTRY
The Utah Valley women win their second team invitational this weekend at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada while the Aggie women also take a win at home during the Kachina Classic. Chicago State and Missouri-Kansas City were the only two teams to rest this week. Texas-Pan American and Chicago State hit the road for cross country comptetition this weekend.
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.
UTAH VALLEY WOMEN’S XC TEAM JOINS MEN’S TEAM IN REGIONAL RECOGNITION - SEPT. 22
The Utah Valley women’s cross country team earned USTFCCCA recognition after being ranked in the top 15 of the regional rankings.
Utah Valley appeared in the men’s Mountain Region rankings placing 14th while the Utah Valley women’s team appeared in the Mountain Region rankings placing 15th.
The WAC Cross Country Championship will take place in Edingburg, Texas on Saturday, Nov. 1. The NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country Friday, Nov.14.
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.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2014 WAC Cross Country Championship travels to Edinburg, Texas. This year’s championships will be hosted by the University of Texas-Pan American and will take place at the Palm View Golf Course. The Utah Valley men will look to win a second-consecutive WAC title. Idaho claimed the women’s title last season.
November 1, 2014
Location: Edinburg, Texas
Host: UTPA
Course: Palm View Golf Course
Admission: Free
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2014 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country on Friday, Nov. 14. WAC teams will be represented in four locations. The West Region will be held in Palo Alto, Calif., (Stanford). The Mountain Region will be held in Albuquerque, N.M. (New Mexico), the South Central Regional (Arkansas) will take place in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Midwest Region (Bradley) will take place in Peoria, Ill.
November 14, 2014
Great Lakes: University of Wisconsin
Mid-Atlantic: Pennsylvania State University
Midwest: Bradley University
Mountain: University of New Mexico
Northeast: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
South: Florida State University
South Central: University of Arkansas
Southeast: University of Louisville
West: Stanford University
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – The 2014 Cross Country National Championships will take place in Terre Haute, Ind. The race will take place at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
November 22, 2014
Wabash Valley Family Sports Center
599 S. Tabortown Rd.
Terre Haute IN 47803 USA
Phone: 812-877-1388