Aug. 29, 2006
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Cross Country Weekly Release
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Aztecs Open 2006 at Fullerton Season Opener
San Diego State opens 2006 at the Fullerton Season Opener, hosted by CS Fullerton, Saturday, Sept. 2, at 9:15 a.m. The 5K women's race will be contested at the predominately flat Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif., and will be preceded by the men's 8K run at 8:30 a.m.
SDSU Runners Picked to Finish in Tie for Fifth in MWC
In a poll released by the Mountain West Conference and voted on by the league's coaches, SDSU was predicted to finish in a fifth-place tie with Air Force. BYU (64 points), Colorado State (56), New Mexico (49) and Wyoming (41) were all picked ahead of the Aztecs and Falcons, who garnered 28 point apiece. Utah (26), TCU (22) and UNLV (10) rounded out the poll. SDSU's fifth-place selection is its highest since 2000 where it was picked fourth and comes a year after being picked eighth in the 2005 preseason poll.
Looking Back at the 2005 Fullerton Season Opener
Last season, the Aztecs opened the campaign on a positive note placing second in the 26-team field earning 100 points, just 10 behind champion UCLA at Craig Regional Park. SDSU had five runners finish in the top 40 and its top six were only 49 seconds apart. The Aztecs were led by Lisa Crampton's ninth-place finish (19:11) and was followed by Lisa Naucler (17th, 19:33), Celeste Tyson (18th, 19:34), Christal Cuadra (21st, 19:37) and Sarah Belger (35th, 19:55). Lital Azulay, who ran unattached, turned in an impressive performance as she logged a time of 19:05 for a third-place finish in the open division.
Last Time at Carbon Canyon
In 2005, the Fullerton Season Opener was forced to move its race from Carbon Canyon to Craig Regional Park due to heavy rains in the winter at Carbon Canyon. The last time SDSU ran at Carbon Canyon was in 2004 and the results were not what it had hoped. The Aztecs took 15th out of 19 teams (370 pts.), but ended up posting three of the top-10 fastest 5K times that season.
2005 Season Review
Bolstered by a crop of talented newcomers, SDSU fashioned one of its best seasons ever in 2005. Fielding perhaps its deepest squad in recent years, several individual and team milestones were reached during a memorable campaign. Aztec runners repeatedly established career-best times while helping SDSU make its first-ever appearance in the regional polls.
The Aztecs' first team title in two years was among the many highlights for the scarlet and black. SDSU captured the Santa Clara Invitational and finished no worse than seventh place in its six other scoring meets. The strong performances did not go unnoticed as the Aztecs were ranked as high as eighth in the west region according to the WICCCA. The year culminated with the Aztecs' best-ever showing at a regional meet, as SDSU placed seventh out of 30 teams in the west.
Individually, Lital Azulay quickly established herself as one of the elite runners in school history. In her first cross country season on The Mesa, the sophomore transfer was SDSU's top finisher in all six races she ran, including an individual title in Santa Clara. She posted three of the school's top-10 fastest times in the 6K distance and two of the school's top-10 times in the 5K. For her efforts, Azulay was twice named MWC Runner of the Week, becoming just the second Aztec along with Marie Nilsson to be honored twice with the award in the same season.
At the MWC championships, Azulay earned first-team all-conference honors, becoming just the second SDSU runner to accomplish the feat. The Holon, Israel, native capped off the year at the NCAA regional meet by recording the school's second-fastest 6K mark (21:05.80), garnering all-region honors with her top-25 finish.
Azulay was not the only Aztec to play a significant role in 2005. After finishing as the team's top runner at the Fullerton Season Opener, Lisa Crampton cemented herself as the team's No. 2 runner, trailing only Azulay in five of the next six races. She finished second at the Santa Clara Invite and recorded personal bests at the Willamette Invitational (5K - 17:32.60) and NCAA West Regional (6K - 21:32.30), with the latter time ranking No. 4 on SDSU's all-time list.
Senior Christal Cuadra made her final cross country race a memorable one, setting a 6K career best (21:50.90) at NCAA Regionals, which ranked as the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Lisa Naucler and Sarah Belger were another pair of newcomers who enjoyed a productive season. Naucler posted two of the team's top-10 5K times of 2005 and finished in the top five on the team in six of seven races, while Belger was the squad's No. 3 finisher at the MWC meet.
SDSU also received steady performances from Celeste Tyson and Sara Cates. Tyson logged career bests in both the 5K (18:28.33) and 6K (22:20.60) in Santa Clara and at the NCAA regional meet, respectively. Cates, meanwhile, recorded a career-best mark of 23:15.10 at the MWC championships, a two-minute improvement from the same meet in 2004.