SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State cross country team will wrap up their 2021 regular season at the NCAA West Regionals Friday morning at 10 a.m. PT. The race will take place at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, Calif.
The Aztecs will send eight runners and then decide which seven will run: Emily Burd, Amber Elias, Lauren Harper, Jessica Kain, Alex Lomeli, Carlene Masar, Nicole Meyer and Naomi Smitham.
The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 50's and minimal wind.
The course follows an outer and inner horseshoe design. Almost all of the running on the flat course will occur on well-maintained fairways.
Coach Lusitana Previews the Meet
"At the beginning of the season the team established some goals for the season which centered around this meet. We have a solid group that has worked extremely hard all year and as a team we have accomplished a great deal. This year we have nine student-athletes who have worked hard enough to deserve to participate in this meet, but unfortunately NCAA rules only allow us to race seven.
The team is fit, motivated, and excited about the opportunity this race presents for them. Because our conference is one of the best in the nation for cross country, we have seen the type of top competition we will see on Friday. The two major differences between this race and the conference meet is that there are 36 teams and around 250 runners and that we get to race at sea level."
Aztec Storylines
• SDSU finished in eighth place at the Mountain West Championships two weeks ago.
• Freshman Nicole Meyer was the first Aztec to finish crossing the finish line in 21:56.7 (60th place). This was Meyer's first time finishing in the top three among Aztec runners.
• Amber Elias was the second Aztec to finish, her best career finish among SDSU runners.
• Emily Burd finished third among Aztec runners, her fourth time finishing in the top three for SDSU.
• Jessica Kain has been the top Aztec finisher in the last five of the last seven races she's run in.
• Kain, Carlene Masar, Burd, Lauren Harper, Elias and Naomi Smitham all recorded career-best 6k times at the Stump Invitational on Sept. 10.
Aztecs Running in NCAA West Regionals Friday
