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Oct. 29, 2003
SAN DIEGO -
2003 MWC Championships Moved To New Mexico
* The 2003 Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships, originally slated for Sat., Nov. 1 at Morley Field, have been moved to Albuquerque, N.M., due to the recent fires and poor air quality in the San Diego area.
* The University of New Mexico will play host to the meet at the UNM North Golf Course, with the men's 8K race slated to begin at 10 a.m. MST and the women's 6K race set for 11 a.m. MST.
* Saturday would have been the first time in the conference's five-year history that the meet was held in San Diego. New Mexico played host to the 2001 MWC championships, while Provo, Utah (1999, 2002) and Fort Collins, Colo. (2000) have also served as previous meet sites.
SDSU Looks To Move Up Despite Change In Scenery
* What was once a home meet at sea level has now turned into an away meet at 5,085 feet for the Aztec women's cross country squad.
SDSU has not run at that kind of elevation all season, while all of its opponents, with the exception of UNLV, train in it daily.
* Nine Aztecs will head to New Mexico on Wednesday afternoon, including first time participants seniors Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) and Angie Fitzpatrick (San Diego, Calif.), redshirt freshman Christian Fairing (Irvine, Calif.) and freshmen Sara Cates (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Celeste Tyson (Austin, Texas).
This week will be the third trip to the conference meet for senior Kylie Edwards (Mt. Dundeed, Australia) and juniors Allison Brown (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Tina Fodor (Fullerton, Calif.). Sophomore Christal Cuadra (Honolulu, Hawaii) is slated to compete in her second consecutive MWC championships.
* Brigham Young will once again be the favorite to claim its fifth consecutive MWC crown. The Cougars are ranked second nationally and have won four of the last six NCAA titles. Colorado State is also at the No. 22 spot in the most recent FinishLynx poll released Oct. 20.
* A year ago, SDSU finished seventh in the overall standings with 176 points in freezing conditions in Provo, Utah. Then senior Jennifer Stakiw was the team's top finisher, coming in 22nd place with a time of 22:36.80.
* Below is a rundown of the Aztecs' history in the MWC meet:
Year Team Finish Top Finisher (Time)2002 7th (176 pts.) 22. Jennifer Stakiw (22:36.80)
2001 7th (177 pts.) 32. Alicia Stewart (23:24.00)
2000 5th (166 pts.) 31. Kylie Edwards (23:10.20)
1999 5th (146 pts.) 16. Sophia Hawker (18:36.10)*
* = 5K race (others 6K)
Rewind - 2003 Long Beach Invite
* The San Diego State women's cross country squad claimed its first meet title of the season, placing five runners among the top 11 finishers at the Long Beach Invitational at El Dorado Park in Long Beach, Calif. on Oct. 18. The Aztecs, who earned their first team title since winning the University of Hawai'i meet three years ago, beat out nine other squads, finishing with 27 total points in the 86-runner field of the 6K race.
Senior Marie Nilsson was the first Aztec to cross the finish line for fifth time in as many tries this season, coming in third overall with a time of 22:20, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Sophomore Christal Cuadra continued to run well, coming in fifth in 22:54, which ties for 10th in the SDSU record book.
2003 Long Beach State Invitational - 6K
* Final Team Results (Top 5) - 1. SDSU (27 pts.); 2. Track West TC (47 pts.); 3. CS Fullerton (105 pts.); 4. Biola (111 pts.); 5. Long Beach State (133 pts.)
* Aztec Individual Results - 3. Marie Nilsson (22:20); 5. Christal Cuadra (22:54); 8. Kylie Edwards (23:21); 9. Allison Brown (23:27); 11. Christian Fairing (23:40); 25. Tina Fodor (24:22); 37. Sara Cates (24:51); 43. Angie Fitzpatrick (25:01); 45. Celeste Tyson (25:20); 47. Ali Baker (25:41); 51. Brianne Bricker (26:00); 56. Julie Amster (26:19); 57. Jamillah Titus (26:25); 59. Jackie Duncan (26:29)
Nilsson to Cuadra
* The Aztec duo of senior Marie Nilsson and sophomore Christal Cuadra continue to lead the way for SDSU in 2003.
Nilsson has been the squad's top runner in each of her five meets this season, placing in the overall top 10 four times. She has also posted three of the five fastest 6K times in SDSU history and has earned Mountain West Conference athlete-of-the-week honors twice - a first for the Aztecs.
Cuadra, meanwhile, has been the team's No. 2 finisher in five races and was its top runner at the season-opening Cal State Fullerton meet. Cuadra's 6K time of 22:32.00 at the Stanford Invitational ranks sixth in school history, while she has three top-15 finishes already to her credit in 2003.