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LAST TUNEUP
It's the final weekend of the regular season for harriers for six of eight schools in the WAC. Chicago State opens up action on Friday as the Cougar men will head to the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Ill.
CSU Bakersfield makes the trip to Southern California for the Pomona Pitzer Invitational in Claremont while NM State and Grand Canyon will be in Northern California for the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale. Seattle U hosts the Emerald City Open at Lower Woodland Park while UMKC and Utah Valley will see each other in Terre Haute, Ind. for the Pre-National Meet, hosted by Indiana State.
REGIONALLY RANKED
The UT Rio Grande Valley women made their first even appearance in the regional rankings last week, debuting at 10th in the South Central rankings after a strong performance at the Chile Pepper Festival. The Utah Valley men dropped a spot in the Mountain rankings, despite winning the Notre Dame Invitational, and now sit at 12th while the NM State men held steady at 15th .
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.
UTRGV'S HERRERA, UVU'S MORGAN NAMED RUNNERS OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's Alberto Herrera and Utah Valley's McKayla Morgan have been named Western Athletic Conference Male and Female Cross Country Runners of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 4 - 10.
Herrera, a sophomore from Weslaco, Texas (Weslaco East HS), took ninth among 56 runners at the UIW Invitational in Live Oak, Texas. The mark was the fifth-fastest 8000-meter time in program history as the Vaqueros finished fourth as a team.
Morgan, a junior from Riverton, Utah (Riverton HS), took second at the Southern Utah Color Country Invitational, besting her previous personal record in the 4000-meter by 48 seconds with a time of 14:25.6. She was one of three Wolverines to finish inside the top 10 as UVU finishing second as a team.
Other male nominees: Grand Canyon's Chris Baker finished 20th overall at the Mesa Thunderbird Classic in his first race of 2016 … Utah Valley's Jason Lynch placed fifth at the SUU Color Country Invitational to lead the Wolverines for a second straight meet and set a new UVU course record.
Other female nominees: Grand Canyon's Erica Wallace led the Lopes to a fourth-place finish at the Mesa Thunderbird Classic with a 18th-place individual finish … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jennifer Zapata used a second-place individual finish to lead the Vaqueros to a second-place team finish at the UIW Invitational.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2016 WAC Cross Country Championship travels to Seattle. This year's championships will be hosted by Seattle University and will take place at Jefferson Park Golf Course. The Utah Valley men will be running for a fourth-straight WAC title while the UVU women will look to repeat as conference champions against 2014 champion and host Seattle U.
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2016 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country on Friday, Nov. 11. WAC teams will be represented in four locations. The West Region will be held in Sacramento, Calif. (Host: Sacramento State). The Mountain Region will be held in Logan, Utah (Host: Utah State), the South Central Regional (Host: Arkansas) will take place in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Midwest Region (Host: Iowa) will take place in Iowa City, Iowa.
November 11, 2016
Great Lakes: Madison, Wis. (Host: Wisconsin)
Mid-Atlantic: University Park, Pa. (Host: Penn State)
Midwest: Iowa City, Iowa (Host: Iowa)
Mountain: Logan, Utah (Host: Utah State)
Northeast: Bronx, N.Y. (Host: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
South: Talahassee, Fla. (Host: Florida State)
South Central: Fayetteville, Ark. (Host: Arkansas)
Southeast: Charlottesville, Va. (Host: Virginia)
West: Sacramento, Calif. (Host: Sacramento State)
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2016 Cross Country National Championships will take place in Terre Haute, Ind. and is hosted by Indiana State. The race will take place at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.