LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Chico State men’s cross country team will be racing for its seventh straight West Region title, while the women are after their fourth in the last six seasons when they toe the line at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships Saturday morning on the campus of UC San Diego. The men’s 10,000-meter race starts at 8:45. The women’s race will follow at 10:15. The top 15 athletes in each race will earn All-Region honors.
As good as both Wildcat teams have been, it’s easy to forget that what they’re both really racing for Saturday is a berth in the NCAA Championships. The top three men’s teams and top five women’s teams will earn berths to the championships in Slippery Rock, Penn., on Nov. 22nd. The men’s team, currently ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 4 in the nation, has advanced to nine straight national championship races and 13 overall. The women, ranked No. 3 in the nation and No. 1 in the West, have advanced to eight in a row and 10 overall.
Chico State Head Coach Gary Towne believes the men’s race could be “one for the ages.” Alaska Anchorage, which features two true freshmen Kenyans at the top of its roster, could provide Chico State’s toughest competition for the regional title since it defeated UC Davis six seasons ago to start their title streak. Following Chico State and Alaska Anchorage in the regional rankings are No. 3 Western Washington, No. 4 UC San Diego, and No. 5 Western Oregon. Alaska Anchorage is ranked No. 6 in the nation, Western Washington is No. 11, and UC San Diego is No. 20.
in Eight men who earned All-Region honors in 2007 will be present on SaturdaySan Diego. With the addition of a trio of strong new Alaska Anchorage runners and the return of Chico State’s Scott Bauhs who redshirted last year, the region is clearly improved. Finishing in the Top-15 this year will take an exceptional run.
With the fourth-fastest 10,000-meter by an American already under his belt in 2008, Bauhs is undoubtedly the pre-race favorite. He claimed the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) title last weekend. Alaska Anchorage’s top runner, Marko Shessetto, is likely the biggest threat to Bauhs’ first regional title. Chessetto led for much of the Division-I dominated Sundodger Invitational earlier this fall, and recently won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) title.
Alfred Kangogo, Jacob Parisien, and David Kipligat, the Seawolves’ two-through-four runners, are also very talented. Parisien and Kangogo finished just behind Chessetto in the GNAC Championships, and Kipligat finished fourth in last year’s regional championship.
According to Towne, if the Wildcats are going to earn that seventh consecutive title, the Wildcats will need to break up that foursome (assuming Bauhs wins). Sophomore Brendan Scanlon, who finished second at last weekend’s conference championships and eighth at last year’s regional, is probably Chico State’s best hope to do so. Other Wildcats with that potential include Angel Marquez, Michael Wickman, and Manny Mejia. Marquez finished 15th at the regionals one year ago and in the fall finished 2nd in the nation in the 1,500-meters. Wickman has missed almost the entire season with an illness but has recovered in time for this weekend. He finished 10th in last season’s regional. Mejia bursted on to the scene with an 11th-place finish at last season’s regional.
Other race favorites include defending regional champion John Riak of Saint Martin’s, Brian Cronrath of Seattle Pacific, who finished fourth at last weekend’s GNAC Championships, and the Western Washington duo of Jordan Welling and Bennett Grimes.
The women’s race features four of the nation’s top-13 teams, and six of the top-25. No. 3 Chico State is followed by No. 10 Cal State L.A., No. 12 Seattle Pacific, No. 13 Alaska Anchorage, No. 20 UC San Diego, and No. 25 Western Washington.
Just one of the seven women who ran in the Wildcats’ fourth-place finish at last season’s national championship race return, but Chico State is still considered a heavy favorite to win Saturday. The team’s pack mentality is the main reason. Even though almost every team among the contending teams have at least one runner who has been faster than Chico State’s No. 1 this season, the Wildcats have succeeded week in and week out by placing all seven of their runners across the line well before their opponents place five. Only by reversing that trend on Saturday does another team have any real hopes of knocking off the Wildcats.
Chico State No. 1 Tori Tyler, a former All-Pac-10 runner at the University of Washington, has the ability to contend for the title. She has yet to put together that level of performance this season, however. The trio of Kara Lubieniecki, Alia Gray, and Shannon McVannel have all finished within seconds of each other for the last several races and hope to battle for finishes somewhere around the top-10. Chico State’s other three runners, freshmen Stephanie Consiglio and Shannon Rich, and sophomore Colleen Joyce all hope to contend for a spot on the All-Region squad as well.
Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler, the defending NCAA and West Region champion, is the clear favorite to win her third title in three years. Others joining Tyler hoping to pull off an upset are Westeren Washington’s Sarah Porter, Cal State L.A.’s Vivien Wadeck.
