Regionals Await 49er Cross Country
Women Coming Off Strong Showing at Big West November 7, 2001
Beach Heads East to Regionals: The cross country teams will travel to the NCAA Regionals in Tucson, AZ on Saturday. The Regionals will feature a 10K race for the men and a 6K race for the women. The race will feature No. 1 Colorado, No. 2 Stanford and No. 8 Portland on the men?s side, and the No. 1 Stanford women, No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Arizona. UC Santa Barbara, is No. 13 in the men?s poll while Utah State is No. 21. Longer Trek: This will be the first 10K for the men?s team, and second time the women?s team have embarked on a longer race this season. At Stanford, the women finished 19th, as Drea Palacio (23:16) finished 70th with a time of 23:16. Last year, Palacio finished 92nd (22:50) at Regionals, while Aaron Durham was the 15th fastest freshman when he finished 63rd (32:32). Regional Finishes: The 49ers will be sending their first full squad since 1997. The highest finish for the women came in 1989 when they were ninth, while the men?s top finish was in 1997 when they were 14th. 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. Palacio All-Conference: Drea Palacio, with a 10th place finish (18:49.9) at the Big West Championship 5K on October 27 became the first all-conference runner for The Beach since 1993. The team?s sixth place showing was also the highest since 1993. For the men, they finished eighth with Aaron Durham finishing in 28th place (27:22.4) on the 8K course. Women Are Rolling: The women?s team has hit its stride over the final month of the season, finishing a strong sixth at the Big West Championships, after an eighth place showing at Cal Poly in mid-October. Art-Ful Runner: Arturo Garcia has had a strong freshman campaign for The Beach. The Chino, CA native has been one of the team?s top three runners all season. Garcia?s top time came at the LBSU Invite, when he was second with a 26:09.10 time. 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 NCAA Championships are at Furman University (S.C.) on November 19. | 
