LBSU Cross Heads to Big West Championships
Palacio, Garcia Lead Field for The Beach October 23, 2001
Big West Race Next: The cross country teams will travel to the Big West Championships in San Luis Obispo this Saturday, the site of the team's strongest showing of the season, two weeks ago. The women finished eighth led by Drea Palacio's ninth place showing (18:59.6), while Arturo Garcia (27:56.3) raced the men to ninth place. The Coaches: Director Andy Sythe is in his 13th season as director of both the track and field and cross country programs. During Sythe's tenure, 49er track athletes have achieved 70 NCAA qualifying performances, 55 conference champions, had 18 All-Americans, three Big West Athletes of-the-year, one NCAA national champion and another NCAA runner-up. In cross country, eight 49er student-athletes have earned All-Big West Conference honors. Dana Colligan Gutierez is in her second season as the distance coach for LBSU. Larry Henderson is in his first season as a graduate assistant coach. Turo-ing the Southland: Freshman Arturo Garcia (Chino, CA) has had strong month heading into this week's Big West Championships. Garcia has been the men's team top runner over the last 8Ks, speeding his way to a personal-best 26:09.10 at the LBSU Invite. Watch out for Aaron: Sophomore Aaron Durham (Long Beach, CA) last year just missed out on all-conference honors with a 14th finish at last year's Big West Championships. Duraham season-best was 26:57.80 at the LBSU Invite. A Palace Fit For Drea: Sophomore Drea Palacio (Fresno, CA) has been the top women's runner all season leading the 49ers in all four races this season. Palacio is coming off her strongest showing of the season at Cal Poly on October 13 when she finished ninth with a time of 18:59.6. Her 18:41.40 time at the LBSU Invite is the 10th fastest time in the conference this season. More for Molly: Junior Molly Roche (Arleta, CA) had a strong showing for The Beach at the Cal Poly Invite, finishing with a season-best 20:10.6. Vast Improvement: Freshman Jaclyn Pedersen (Simi Valley) has improved her time 50 seconds from a 20:09.0 at Riverside three weeks ago to an 19:20.70 time last week at the LBSU Invite. Transfer Sharon Burnett (Springfield, OR) has improved her time from 20:10.0 to 19:05.20 over that span. On the men's side, Brian Stehmeier (Running Springs, CA) has remained in the team's top-three all season with a personal-best 26:37 at Stanford. Young Guns: The men's team features seven freshmen, four sophomores and no upperclassmen, while the women's team has seven freshmen, five sophomores and one junior. Rest of the Schedule: The West Regionals will be held in Tucson on November 10, while Nationals will be hosted by Furman University (S.C.) on November 19. | 
