Nov. 13, 2008
Men's 10K Course Map
San Francisco men's and women's cross country are set to compete in the NCAA West Regionals on Saturday November 15, hosted by Stanford University in Palo Alto. The women's 6K race will begin at 11:00 AM and the men's 10K will start at noon. Both races will be held on Stanford's golf course. The top two teams in each race qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships, along with the top four individuals not on qualifying teams. In addition, teams around the country are competing for 13 at-large berths, which will be awarded based on a season-long points system developed by the NCAA, with priority toward top regional placers. Historically, the West Region has received several at-large bids. Men's Race: For the USF men, West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and WCC First Team honoree Ganbileg Bor will lead the Dons. Bor is coming off a second place finish at the WCC championships (11/1) and has the fastest 10k time in USF history (31:04.41), which he achieved at the Chili Pepper Invitational in Arkansas (10/18). Also lining up for the men will be sophomores Jesus Romo, and Josh Horeled, and freshmen Jeremy Grace, Devin Hopkins, Thomas Estrada, and Tyler Alvarez. The 2007 West Regional race was won by host, University of Oregon, with 47 points. The Ducks went on to win the 2007 national title. Oregon outdistanced second-place Portland and third-place Stanford to capture its second consecutive regional title. The top six teams from the 2007 West Regional advanced to the NCAA Meet: Oregon (1st), Cal Poly (11th), Portland (14th), California (16th), Stanford (19th) and Arizona State (26th). This season, the west is loaded once again with seven ranked teams and several others which will be looking to earn automatic and at-large bids to the NCAA Championships. Oregon, led by defending regional champion Galen Rupp, is ranked No. 1 in the country and the favorite for its third straight regional title. However, the Ducks should face strong competition from No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Portland. Other ranked teams competing will be No. 19 Cal Poly, No. 20 California, No. 23 Washington, and No. 26 UCLA. Cal Poly is the Big West champion, while Washington and Cal tied for third at the Pac-10 Championships with UCLA just two points behind, in fifth. The top three individuals from last year's West Regional will be back in 2008. Defending champion Rupp, runner-up David Kinsella (Portland), and third-place Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott of Oregon will be joined by other top-10 finishers, Josef Ghebray (eighth) and David Torrence (ninth) of Cal and Hari Mix (10th) of Stanford. Women's Race: Last season, the Dons finished 12th as a team in a strong field, and this year's squad looks to continue on that success. Senior Michelle Born, who earned WCC First Team accolades after finishing fourth at the conference championships two weeks ago, will lead the women. Joining Born on the course will be, junior Mary Verran, sophomores Laurel Kleiber, and Nicole Bowler, and freshmen Sophia Ditty, Haley Nemra, and Hillary Kigar. The 2007 West Regional was won by Stanford with just 33 points. The Cardinal has captured the last nine West Regionals and the last three NCAA titles. Oregon finished as runner-up, followed by Arizona State and Washington. In addition to the Cardinal, the West was well represented at last year's NCAA Championships as Oregon finished as the national runner-up and Arizona State also won a trophy, finishing fourth. Washington (eighth) and UC Santa Barbara (19th) gave the West a total of five teams at last year's national meet. This year, No. 1 Washington has taken the nation by storm after dominating performances at the NCAA Pre-Nationals and the Pac-10 Championships. The Huskies scored just 36 points at Pre-Nats and then scored a perfect 15 points at the conference championship. Kendra Schaaf leads the Huskies after capturing the Pac-10 individual crown in her freshman season. Despite being swept at Pac-10's, Oregon remained No. 2 in the nation. The Ducks were led by Lindsey Scherf who finished seventh. They remain a threat for a big upset over Washington. The only other ranked team is No. 16 Arizona State, but Washington State, Oregon State and Arizona each received votes and will be looking for a big race to move into at-large consideration for the NCAA championships. The top returning individual is Nicole Blood of Oregon, who finished second at last year's West Regional. Other top returners are Alex Gits of Stanford (third), Anita Campbell of Washington (fourth), Alexandra Kosinski of Oregon (fifth), Katie Follett of Washington (seventh), Jenna Kingma of Arizona State (eighth) and Dana Morgan of Portland (ninth). Admission to the event is free, as is parking in the lots at the corner of Stock Farm Road and Oak Road. Directions are below and course maps are linked at the top of the page. From Highway 101:
From Highway 280:
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