Nov. 12, 2011
Complete Results
TUCSON –The University of Arizona Wildcat men's and women's cross country teams had a successful day at the NCAA West Regional Championships, in Palo Alto, Calif. on Saturday. Freshman Lawi Lalang won the men's 10K while the women's squad finished second in the team race to punch their tickets to the NCAA Cross Country Championships later this month.
“Our women had a much better day today,” head coach James Li said. “With the automatic bid, we don't have to wait for the announcement on Sunday. We were well prepared and more relaxed mentally. I told them to run their race and to trust themselves. We didn't get here by accident. Jen Bergman and Elvin Kibet train together and they race together. They build off that and it's really working out well for them.”
For the third-straight season, the 15th-ranked women's team earned a bid to the NCAA Championship meet with their runner-up finish and 98 points. No. 6 Washington won the team race with 50 points and No. 8 Stanford rounded out the top three with 111 points. Only the top two teams will automatically advance. The at-large bids will be announced Sunday by 7 p.m. ET. Jordan Hassay of Oregon won the women's 6,000-meter race with a time of 19:44.
For the Wildcats, sophomore Elvin Kibet was the top finisher with a fourth-place finish and a time of 20:09. Junior Jen Bergman was sixth overall with her clocking of 20:15. Junior Elizabeth Apgar was 20th and clocked a 6K time of 20:51. Senior Hanna Henson was 27th with her time of 20:57 and freshman Haley Stenquist rounded out the Arizona scoring five with a 41st-place finish and a time of 21:20.
On the men's side, Lalang won the 10,000-meter race with a time of 28:34. He won his fifth-straight race and topped the second-place finisher, Chris Derrick of Stanford, by 16 seconds. Today's race broke his streak of four-straight meets breaking the course record. Stanford Golf Course has a course record of 27:41.24, set by former Oregon Duck Galen Rupp at the 2008 NCAA West Regional Championships.
“Lawi Lalang ran pretty conservatively for the first 5K,” Li said. “His first 5K was in 14:40 and he closed in 13:55. He really turned it on for the second half of the race. He did really well. I'm very happy with his performance. Moving up to the 10K didn't faze him at all.”
The UA men did not field a complete team with only three student-athletes running. No. 6 Stanford won the men's team race with 50 points. No. 8 Portland was second with 53 points and unranked Cal Poly rounded out the top three with 122 points.
Also competing for Arizona were sophomore Erin Menefee (21:28, 48th) and freshman Nicci Corbin (21:40, 59th). On the men's side sophomore Patrick Zacharias finished 24th with a time 30:06 and freshman Kenji Bierig was 66th with a 10K clocking of 30:47.
The NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held Mon., Nov. 20 in Terre Haute Ind., hosted by Indiana State University at the Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
