It’s fair to allude to the MLB All-Star game slogan when discussing the NCAA West Regional Championship. This time, it really does count.
Throughout the day Saturday, Division I cross country teams will compete across the nation in nine separate regional meets. The top two team finishers will automatically qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, held on Nov. 24. In addition to the 18 automatic qualifiers, 13 other teams will be selected from around the nation based upon a variety of factors, including strength of opponents beaten in team play. The West Regional comprises teams from California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and Idaho.
Oregon head coach Vin Lananna has been critical of the “regionals” format, believing that the runners are asked to compete in one more race than necessary, but he can’t possibly argue with the venue. The West Regional will be hosted by Stanford University, where Lananna coached – and won seven women’s and eight men’s regional titles. Stanford is the most successful team historically at the West Regionals, with 14 women’s titles and 10 men’s titles, and the Ducks have combined for 13 (seven women’s, six men’s).
The Oregon men have won the last two West Regionals and senior Galen Rupp’s individual title was the first since Steve Fein in 1999. The strength of the field increases, however, as No. 4 Portland and No. 19 Cal Poly join five ranked Pacific-10 Conference teams: No. 26 UCLA, No. 23 Washington, No. 20 Cal, No. 3 Stanford and the No. 1 Ducks, the 2008 Pac-10 champions.
“We’re going there to win and do it as easily as possible,” junior Diego Mercado said.
At the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by Oregon on Oct. 4, the Ducks got a first look at Portland – and the Pilots didn’t disappoint. Senior All-American David Kinsella took the individual title and freshman Alfred Kipchumba finished a surprising second. Rupp and junior Kenny Klotz, a 2007 All-American, did not participate in the race.
The No.2-ranked Oregon women find themselves in an unfamiliar role: underdogs. After No. 1 Washington recorded a rare sweep of the top six positions at the Oct. 31 Pac-10s, the Ducks look to embrace the challenge of defeating the Huskies after working out the frustrations of the race.
“We clearly did not control the things that we have within our grasp,” Lananna said of the Pac-10s. “We went out and pressed. There was no reason to do that.”
Oregon junior Nicole Blood is the top returning finisher from the 2007 West Regional (second), but faces stiff competition from the Huskies, most notably Kendra Schaaf, who broke a course record in a wire-to-wire individual victory at the Pac-10s.
Other women’s teams ranked within the regional include No. 11 Stanford and No. 16 Arizona State.
Lineups have not been set for the Ducks, but the number of runners competing will shrink from a maximum of 10 at the Pac-10s to seven. Diego Mercado was held out of racing at the Pac-10s, but he is expected to race the West Regionals. The six-kilometer women’s race begins at 11 a.m. The men’s race, which is racheted up to 10 kilometers for the regionals and NCAA Championships, takes place at noon.
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