NCAA West Regionals on tap Saturday in Montana, as both Viking squads look to secure places in Sacramento...
For most of the field running in Saturday' NCAA Division II West Regionals at Amend Park in Billings, Montana will be the last race of the season, but for a few, the regionals is where they hope to secure their tickets to the national championships on November 23rd in Sacramento.
Racing begins at 10 am MT/9 am PT Saturday with the men's 10K, which is two kilometers longer than what nearly all men's squads have raced this season. The women's 6K closes out the regional competition with a start time of 11:15 am MT/10:15 am PT.
Western Washington's men's and women's cross country teams head into Montana with a target on their back, as the three-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference team champions are ranked number nine (men) and number 14 (women) in the latest USTFCCCA Division II national coaches' poll, and number two in both West Region coaches' poll.
A top three team finish in the meet will assure both Viking squads of a trip to Sacramento. A complicated formula determines the remaining ten at-large berths for nationals (34 total teams; top three from each of the eight regional meets nationally are the auto qualifiers)
Last season both Viking squads qualified for nationals marking the ninth time since joining the NCAA in 1998 that both the WWU men's and women's cross country teams have qualified for nationals. The WWU women have made ten trips to NCAA nationals and the Viking men have appeared at nationals thirteen times in program history.
The Viking women's squad enters the regionals as the defending team champions, while the men finished fourth at last year's meet in Monmouth, Oregon.
Beyond the team race, which both Viking squads should be in the mix for, there are individual spots on the line as well.
Central Washington's Johan Correa (Paul Merca photo) goes into the regionals as the defending champion, beating his closest competitor by a second, running 30:43 for 10k.
Correa hopes to tow teammate and GNAC newcomer of the year Ramon Rodriguez along to a top five finish, which would give the Wildcats two individual qualifiers, assuming the team doesn't place in the top three.
The Wildcats, who finished fifth at the GNAC championships despite the second and third place finish by Correa and Rodriguez, needs their third through sixth runners to run substantially over their heads to have a shot at qualifying as a team.
For most of the season, the Wildcats were ranked either eighth or ninth in the USTFCCCA West Region coaches' rankings, until they dropped out of the top ten after the GNAC championship meet.
The Vikings, led by GNAC champion Jeret Gillingham, look to avenge a loss to Chico State, which is ranked number one in the West, and number six in the national poll.
Chico State won the Bill Roe Invitational in Ferndale in late September in their only head-to-head meeting this season.
In both the men's 10k and women's 6k races, the top two individuals who are not part of a qualifying team will automatically advance to the championship finals. All individuals who finish in the top five at the regional meet and are not part of a qualifying team will automatically advance to the championship finals.
In the women's race, Western Washington does have a win over Chico State, winning the Bill Roe Invitational in late September by a narrow 53-56 margin. However at the Lewis Crossover on October 12th, the Vikings were beaten by the University of Alaska/Fairbanks, but have two wins this season over the Nanooks at the Bill Roe, and the GNAC championships.
Seattle Pacific senior Annika Esvelt (Paul Merca photo), who was third at the GNAC championship race two weeks ago, and an All American on the track at 5000 and 10000 meters, is a solid bet to qualify for the national cross country championships.
However, for all the accolades she's accumulated during her career, Esvelt, because of either injury or illness, has never qualified for the NCAA championships in cross country.
Thanks to an unlooked for fourth place finish at the GNAC championship, her teammate Maya Ewing is now also in the mix for a possible individual qualifying spot for the national championship meet.
Ewing finished two places in front of Western Washington's Ashley Reeck, who was an All-American in cross country last season.
Like Central Washington in the men's race, the Falcons, who are ranked eighth in the latest West Region coaches' poll, will need help from their numbers three through six runners to have a realistic chance at qualifying for the national championships.
Seattle Pacific's strongest case for a possible at-large berth to the national championships was a 16th place finish at the Lewis Crossover. No matter the scenario, they will have to run a strong team race in Billings to receive consideration.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, NCAA, and the sports information offices of MSU-Billings, Western Washington, Central Washington, and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.
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