Monday, November 4, 2013

SPOKANE, Wash. - Chico State and Alaska Anchorage are the top-ranked teams for the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s West Regional Cross Country Championships, which will be held Saturday at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex.

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Spokane Regional Sports Commission are co-hosts for the event.

Chico State, which is ranked fourth in the latest USTFCCCA national poll, will be gunning for its 10th men’s regional title in the past 12 years. 

The Wildcats reclaimed the region crown last season after Alaska Anchorage, which is ranked second in the region and ninth nationally, had won back-to-back titles in 2010 and in 2011, the latter at Plantes Ferry, to end Chico’s eight-year title run under coach Gary Towne.

Chico State is also the defending champion in the women’s division, but is currently ranked second in the region in back of coach Michael Friess’ Seawolves.   UAA’s women, which is led by 2012 national runner-up Susan Tanui, are ranked fourth nationally just ahead of No. 5 Chico State and No. 6 Simon Fraser.

Both Chico State and Alaska Anchorage are coming off sweeps in their respective conference championships.

The Wildcats posted a perfect score – the first in CCAA history - in winning their 12th consecutive CCAA men’s championship at Hooker Oak Park in Chico.

CSUC’s Aaron Thomas led a tightly bunched pack in a 6,000-meter time of 24:50.6.  The top six finishers were all from Chico and were separated by less than four seconds.

That included Alfonso Cisneros who placed second and Isaac Chavez who finished fourth.  Cisneros is the top returning athlete from last year’s men’s regional meet when he finished third  in a 10,000-meter time of 32:06.

Chavez, who placed fourth in last year’s regional meet in a time of 32:07, is also one of two returning All-Americans from a year ago when he placed 13th in the national meet at Joplin, Mo.  UAA’s Dylan Anthony also earned All-American honors last season placing 23rd. Thomas (11th), Cisneros and Chavez are among 13 returning athletes who earned all-region honors in 2012 by placing in the Top 25 at the region meet in Hawaii.

Chico State returns five all-region selections.  In addition to Thomas, Cisneros and Chavez, Dayne Gradone (20th) and Johnny Sanchez (21st) were also all-region selections.

Alaska Anchorage, led by Anthony (13th), returns four  2012 all-region athletes – including Isaac Kangogo (14th), Kevin Rooke (19th) and Dominik Notz (25th).

Kangogo won the GNAC title on Oct. 26 at Monmouth in a time of 24:51.27 leading  a 1-2-3 UAA sweep as the Seawolves edged Western Washington by three points for the team title.  Freshman Victor Samoei finished second and Anthony finished third.

Western Washington, which is ranked third in the region and 16th nationally, returns two all-region performers – Chip Jackson (6th) and Dylan Peterson (24th). 

Also back from last year’s Top 25 are Ryan Carrell of Cal Poly Pomona (7th) and Bruk Assefa of San Francisco State (9th).  Cal Poly Pomona is ranked fourth in the region and 21st nationally.

The championships will also include PacWest champion Cal Baptist, which is competing in the regional for the first time since gaining full NCAA membership this fall. 

Bryton Reim and Sergio Rodriguez finished 1-2 in the PacWest meet to lead the Lancers to their third consecutive conference team title.

The top returnee on the women’s side is Tanui, who won the GNAC individual title two weeks ago leading Alaska Anchorage to its fifth consecutive conference team title.

Tanui won the West Region individual title last year covering the 6,000-meter layout in a time of 21:19.  She repeated as GNAC champion in a time of 20:24.74 leading the Seawolves to a 13-point win over Simon Fraser in the conference meet.

Alaska Anchorage and Chico State, which outraced Cal State Stanislaus to win the CCAA title (29-77), each return four Top 25 finishers from last year.   The Warriors bring a No. 4 regional rank and a No. 24 national rank into the meet.

In addition to Tanui, returnees for the Seawolves include Ivy O’Guinn (13th), Sarah Freistone (17th) and Susan Bick (24th).  Freistone did not run in the GNAC meet due to an injury.

The top returnee for Chico State from last year’s all-region team is Ayla Granados, who finished third.   Granados won the CCAA individual title two weeks ago in a time of 22:10.9 finishing 3.5 seconds ahead of teammate Sara Mikesell.  Mikesell placed seventh at regionals last season before going on to join Tanui on the All-American team by placing 14th at the national meet.

Also back off of last year’s all-region team from Chico was Jessica Varela and Rebekah Bahra, who placed 15th and 18th, respectively.

In addition to the UAA and CSUC, the only other returning Top 25 finishers from the 2012 meet are Humboldt State’s Devon Kelsey, who finished ninth, and Kansas Mackenzie of Simon Fraser, who placed 21st.

PacWest champion Azusa Pacific will not be among the participating teams as they are a provisional NCAA member and won’t gain full status until next fall.    The conference, however, will be represented by Fiona McKenna of Hawaii Pacific who won the PacWest’s individual title in a 5,000-meter time of 17:16.1.

The regional will determine which five men’s teams and women’s team return to Spokane to compete in the NCAA Division II national meet Nov. 23.  In addition to the team qualifiers, the top three men’s and women’s individuals not on one of the qualifying teams also will earn a spot in the national meet.

NCAA Regional Rankings (National Rank in parentheses)

Men – 1. Chico State (4); 2. Alaska Anchorage (9); 3. Western Washington (16); 4. Cal Poly Pomona (21); 5. UC San Diego; 6. Cal Baptist; 7. San Francisco State; 8, Simon Fraser; 9. Montana State Billings; 10. Humboldt State.

Women – 1. Alaska Anchorage (4); 2. Chico State (5); 3. Simon Fraser (6); 4. Cal State Stanislaus (24); 5. Cal Poly Pomona; 6. UC San Diego; 7. Seattle Pacific; 8. Western Washington; 9. Cal Baptist; 10. Humboldt State.