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Aztec Cross Country Takes On The Best In The West Saturday
SDSU heads to Oregon for the NCAA west regional.
Nov. 10, 2003 SAN DIEGO - Complete Release in PDF Format
Aztec Cross Country Takes On The Best In The West Saturday * The Aztecs leave all but one of their Mountain West Conference opponents behind for this week's meet. SDSU and UNLV will both compete in the NCAA west regional, while the other six schools head to Riverside, Utah, for the NCAA mountain regional (host - Weber State). * The NCAA west region is made up of schools from Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington and Oregon. SDSU's competition includes six of the country's top 30 teams, highlighted by top-ranked Stanford. * Bids to this season's national meet, scheduled for Nov. 24, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, will be on the line at the regional meets. The top two teams from each of the nine regional meets will automatically advance. The next four individuals who are not on one of the two teams will also be invited. On Monday, Nov. 17, 13 teams will be selected to receive at-large bids, while two additional individuals will also be chosen to compete at the national meet based on various criteria. * SDSU plans to send seven runners to the NCAA west regional including seniors Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) and Kylie Edwards (Mt. Dundeed, Australia), juniors Allison Brown (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and Tina Fodor (Fullerton, Calif.), sophomore Christal Cuadra (Honolulu, Hawaii), redshirt freshman Christian Fairing (Irvine, Calif.) and freshman Sara Cates (Carlsbad, Calif.). * The last Aztec to qualify for the NCAA meet was Sophia Hawker, who earned an at-large individual bid in 1999. Hawker finished 24th out of 196 runners at the regional meet, which was incidentally also held in Troutdale, Ore. SDSU has only qualified once as a team for the national championships (1981 - 7th). * Below is a rundown of the Aztecs in the past four NCAA regional meets:
SDSU Makes Best Of MWC Meet Senior Marie Nilsson posted the best-ever finish and time by an Aztec at the MWC championships, coming in fourth overall in 21:53. Nilsson's finish earned her a spot on the seven-member Mountain West Conference first team, becoming the first SDSU runner so honored in the meet's five-year history. Her final time of 21:53 also matches her 2003 season best at the Stanford Invitational and ties for second-fastest in school history. Nilsson was helped by fellow senior Kylie Edwards, who came in 24th overall with a season-best time of 23:18. Junior Allison Brown (39th - 24:12), sophomore Christal Cuadra (42nd - 24:24) and redshirt freshman Christian Fairing (47th - 24:49) rounded out the Aztec top-five finishers. The Aztecs were supposed to play host to this year's conference meet, but wildfires and the ensuing poor air quality in the San Diego area earlier in the week caused the event to be moved to Albuquerque, N.M., with just three days notice. * Below is a rundown of the Aztecs' history in the MWC meet:
Flashback - 2002 NCAA Regional Titus finished 71st out of the 189 runners with a time of 23:31. Cuadra was the second Aztec to cross the finish line, placing 85th in 23:49. Seniors Alicia Stewart and Kylie Edwards came in 87th and 103rd, respectively, while sophomore Tina Fodor rounded out the Aztec finishers with a time of 24:58. Senior captain Jennifer Stakiw, who appeared to be on her way to a top-20 performance, did not finish the race.
2002 NCAA West Regionals - 6K - Palo Alto, Calif.
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