LBSU Report
The Long Beach State cross country team prepares for the NCAA West Regional hosted by the University of Oregon this Saturday, Nov. 14, as they travel to Eugene, Ore. The men’s 10,000-meter race is scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m., while the women’s 6,000-meters is slated for a 10:45 a.m. start. Both races will take place at the Springfield Country Club.
The two top men’s and women’s teams and four individuals will earn automatic berths to the NCAA Championship on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted by Indiana State University. There are an additional 13 at-large bids also available.
The West Regional features teams from states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada Oregon and Washington.
“We are very eager for the NCAA West Regional Championships,” said distance coach Patrick Cunniff. “Both teams get the opportunity to run against the number one ranked team in the country and several other highly ranked teams. We always look forward to this meet as a way to test our self against the very best and to see how well we are developing as a program and as individuals. We are committed to being a national level cross country program, and this meet more than any other tells us how far we have come and how far we have to go.”
The 49ers will be looking to improve their performance from last year’s NCAA West Regional which was held at the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, Calif. The women’s team finished in 11th place (332 points) in a field of 30 teams and the men’s squad crossed the finish line in 15th (424 points) out of 25 teams.
Senior Missy Barclay will lead the women’s team in Eugene as she recently finished in eighth place at the Big West Conference Championships two weeks ago. Barclay finished in 68th at last year’s regional meet in a time of 21:40.
Barclay will be joined by juniors Jessica Barnard and Alisia Barajas as both runners recorded an 18th and 60th place finishes respectively at the Big West Championships. Barnard finished 129th at last year’s regional meet, while Barajas came in at 178th. Junior Jennifer Rodriguez and freshman Annie Randall will also look to make a strong impact for the 49ers this Saturday.
“The women have a great chance to solidify the reputation we are building as a strong program year in and year out,” added Cunniff. “After finishing 12th, 10th, 11th the last three years, the next obvious goal is to finish in single digits. The women have trained so hard and raced so well to this point and yet we all still feel we have an even better race left in us. Captain Missy Barclay lead us at Big West with an All-Conference performance and also ran a great race when we raced this course two years ago,” said Cunniff. “Annie Randall, Jennifer Rodriguez and Liz Ramos are all eager to show their full ability and are ready to go. Alisia Barajas has been our most consistent runner and looks faster than ever. As Hillary Zator proved with her great race at conference, any woman on this team can step up on the right day. I expect that Hillary and Jessica Barnard will both deliver strong performances.”
On the men’s side, LBSU will be led by junior Travis Kuhlman as he was the top runner for The Beach at the Big West Championships as he finished in 11th place. Kuhlman also led the 49ers at last year’s regional meet as he crossed the finish line in 60th with a mark if 30:56.
Sophomore Matt Maldonado and senior Dylan Jaedtke will also look to make a strong performance for LBSU as both runners finished in top 20 at the Big West Championships.
The 49ers will also be supported by senior Jacob Ainsworth, junior Mark Thomas and sophomore Raul Arcos as all three runners have had a competitive season.
“The men face the same challenge we dealt with in the conference,” stated Cunniff. “Simply put there are a lot of very good teams. There may be 19 or 20 teams in this region that could place top 10 in any other region in the country, which makes for awesome competition. Regionals, with the distance change to 10k, always rewards poise, toughness and strength and we have worked hard all year to develop these qualities in our team,” said Cunniff. “Dylan Jaedtke, as a fifth year senior, goes into his fourth West Regional and provides experience and leadership to our whole group. Travis Kuhlman and Matt Maldonado come off of great performances at the Big West meet and look to continue their strong running. We also expect great races from Steven DeCastro, Raul Arcos, Jake Ainsworth and Mark Thomas.”