Oct. 2, 2013
SAN DIEGO -
The San Diego State cross country team travels to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the NCAA Inter-Regional Jamboree on Friday (Oct. 4). The women's 5K race takes place on the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex and is set to kick off at 10:30 a.m. PT.
The meet will serve as both a preview meet for the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 15 and an inter-regional "points accumulator" featuring a competitive inter-regional field of teams looking to earn their way to the national meet in November.
The NCAA Inter-Regional Jamboree is loaded with some of the top talent in the west region, including the Aztecs, 24th-ranked San Francisco and UC Davis (receiving votes), along with regionally-ranked UCLA (No. 3), Cal Poly (No. 8), Washington State (No. 9), California (No. 12) and UC Santa Barbara (No. 14). Other schools competing are Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Fresno State, Long Beach State, Nevada, Oregon State, Pacific, host Sacramento State, San Francisco, Saint Mary's, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and USC.
The cross country course layout on Haggin Oaks GC will be on the Arcade Creek course using nine different holes following an outer and inner horseshoe design. For the NCAA West Regionals, the women's course has a cut-off at 2,500 meters, and it is run twice for the 6K championship distance. The inner horseshoe can be cut out on the first loop of each course to configure the 5K race distance.
The course is very flat and almost all of the running is on well-maintained fairways. The outer and inner horseshoe configuration makes the course very spectator-friendly and prevents any possible lapping of runners. The start and finish areas are adjacent to one another and are right at the entrance near the clubhouse and awards pavilion. The course finishes with a forgiving 300-meter finish down the ninth fairway.
SDSU is coming off a fourth-place showing at the 69th annual Aztec Invitational on Sept. 21 at historic Balboa Park in San Diego, despite running without its top runner Laura Vazquez and another top-five competitor Jessica McCall. Rachel Roesgen was the top San Diego State finisher, coming in 13th with a 5K time of 18 minutes, 51 seconds. Chelsea Kruthers was the next Aztec to cross the finish line as she was 16th in 18:52, while Jessica Cygan (20th, 19:20), Elaine Ribeiro (21st, 19:23) and Dynasty Gammage (25th, 20:04) each made their home debut and finished among the top five on the team. Katy Smith shaved finished 27th in 20:15, while Melissa Wendorf took 30th in 20:25. Running her first Aztec Invitational 5K, Cali King came in 44th in 21:25.
Running for the Aztecs on Friday include Cygan, Gammage, Kruthers, Ribeiro, Roesgen, Smith, Vazquez and Wendorf.
Results will first be posted on RecordTiming.com and later on GoAztecs.com.
Following the NCAA Inter-Regional, SDSU heads to Riverside, Calif., for the Highlander Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 9.