SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State cross country team is competing in the Mountain West Championships Friday morning in Logan, Utah on the Steve & Dona Reeder XC Course on the Utah State campus. The race will be streamed on FloTrack, which offers two subscription models $29.99/month or $149.99/year. FloTrack will also be streaming the NCAA Cross Country Regionals on Nov. 9 as well as the NCAA championships on Nov. 17.
Paige Comiso, Marissa D'Atri, Lauren Harper, Alex Lomeli, Carlene Masar, Renee Phillips and Naomi Smitham will be competing for the Aztecs.
The 6k course has a grassy start and finish areas with the remainder on maintained dirt or packed road base paths. The forecast calls for temperatures below freezing.
Last Time Out
The Aztecs competed in the Bronco Invitational two weeks ago where they saw Marissa D'Atri, Carlene Masar, Alex Lomeli and Naomi Smitham all set collegiate bests over the 6,000-meter course.
D'Atri led SDSU for the first time of the season in a collegiate-best time 21 minutes, 45.1 seconds (21:45.1) for 66th place. Masar was right behind D'Atri in 72nd, clocking a time of 21:47.6, while Lomeli was 111th in 22:15.5.
Also competing for San Diego State were Paige Comiso (140th, 22:36.4), Renee Phillips (162nd, 22:55.8), Lauren Harper (166th, 22:59.3) and Smitham (172nd, 23:11.3).
Aztec Storylines
• The Aztecs were picked ninth (out of 11) in the pre-championship coaches poll. New Mexico was picked first with six first place votes and Boise State was tabbed second with three first place votes. Both teams were ranked in the top 15 nationally in the most recent USTFCCCA Coaches Poll.
• Since joining the Mountain West, the highest finish for the Aztecs in the championships is fifth, which was done twice (2000 & 2005).
• The Aztecs finished 10th at last year's Mountain West Championships, which was held at Balboa Park's Morley Field, but were without two of their top five runners at 100 percent health. Marissa D'Atri (23:34.8) and Paige Comiso (23:52.5) had the top times among Aztecs slated to run this year.
• Four Aztecs set new career bests in the 6k at the Bronco Invitational two weeks ago: Marissa D'Atri, Carlene Masar, Alex Lomeli and Naomi Smitham.
• Marissa D'Atri was the top Aztec finisher at the Bronco Invitational, marking the first time a runner other than Carlene Masar was the top SDSU finisher. Masar finished second and has finished top two among SDSU runners in every race in her career.