Nov. 7, 2012

Meet Notes

TUCSON - University of Arizona Wildcat No. 4 women's and men's cross country teams will compete in the NCAA West Regionals on Friday, Nov. 9 in Seattle, Wash. The competition will be held at Jefferson Park Golf Course. The women's 6,000-meter race will start at 12 p.m. PST while the men's 10,000-meter race will begin at 1:15 p.m.

Arizona will compete against Arizona State (M: 25, W: NR), Boise State (M: NR, W: NR), California (M: NR, W: NR), Colorado (M: 2, W: 24), Oregon (M: 11, W: 3), Oregon State (W: NR), Portland (M: 9, W: NR), San Francisco (M: NR, W: 26), Stanford (M: 3, W: 5), UCLA (M: 27, W: 29), USC (W: NR), Utah (W: NR), Washington (M: NR, W: 7), Washington State (M: NR, W: NR) and many others.

In the latest USTFCCCA regional poll, the Arizona women climbed one spot to second. Oregon is first, Stanford sits at third, Washington is fourth, UCLA is sixth, California is 10th and Arizona State is 11th.

The Wildcat men are No. 7 in the west regional poll. Stanford sits at No. 1, Oregon is No. 3, Arizona State is No. 4, UCLA is No. 5, Washington is No. 6, Washington State sits at No. 9 and California is No. 12. Colorado holds the No. 1 spot in the mountain region.

On the women's side, senior Elizabeth Apgar, senior Jen Bergman, sophomore Stephanie Bulder, sophomore Nicci Corbin, sophomore Clea Formaz, junior Elvin Kibet, junior Erin Menefee, junior Hannah Moen and junior Amanda Russell will toe the line for Arizona.

For the men, sophomore Kenji Bierig, freshman Nathan Kandie, sophomore Lawi Lalang, sophomore Jonas Legernes, sophomore Sam Macaluso, senior Stephen Sambu and sophomore Thomas Valente will don the cardinal and navy for the Wildcats.

"We want to be competitive and make a serious attempt at winning," head coach James Li said. "This is like a preliminary run for the NCAA Championships, the fundamental goal is to go there and run well enough to make it to the next round. I think that is exactly what we are going to do on the women's side. For the men, I would like to see them really compete and do well and we'll see what happens."

The women's squad earned a runner-up finish at the Pac-12 Championships, marking their second runner-up finish in three years. Kibet led the women with a third-place finish and she was followed by Bergman who took seventh place. The women also claimed a point the in Territorial Cup Series, finishing ahead of Arizona State in the team standings.

On the men's side, the squad earned a seventh-place finish. Lalang claimed his second-straight Pac-12 title and continued his undefeated streak. Sambu finished in second place, crossing the line one second after Lalang.