SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two weeks after competing at the West Coast Conference Championship in Spokane, Wash., Santa Clara cross country returns to the Evergreen State for Friday's NCAA West Regional Championships in Seattle. The women's 6k race is scheduled for noon and the men's 10k race is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Jefferson Park Golf Course.
The top two teams on the men's and women's sides earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championship. The top four individual runners not from a qualifying team also earn a berth to the championship if they finish in the Top 25 runners overall.
"This will be the deepest and most competitive field we'll have faced this year, though our schedule up to this point has well prepared us for that challenge," associate head coach Pete Cushman said.
Women's 6k — 37 Teams
SCU Lineup: Camille Dyer, Mary Kriege, Kaitlyn Kuehn, Heather LaPlante, Allison Maio, Bevin McCullough, Grayson Murphy, Elsa Valenzuela
Kriege finished in 14th place and Murphy finished in 15th place to earn Second Team All-Conference accolades at the WCC Championships. Murphy led the Broncos with a 22:23 at last year's regional meet.
The women's side features a pair of Top 10 teams in the country, Oregon (4) and Boise State (9). The Ducks are the top ranked team in the region, and Boise State ranks second in the region.
"The women had a great conference performance, and we're looking to just roll with that momentum," Cushman said. "Graysee and Mary have been on point all year and with this being Mary's last regional meet, she's going to bring her best performance. Graysee has done a great job just sticking with Mary and working as a group. They've both made each other better.
"Heather has looked better every day since reporting. Elsa had the best race of her career at WCCs, and she's running as confident as ever. I think Bevin, Kaitlyn, and Camille all have the capacity to be up where Elsa ran at WCC's, and they'll approach this meet like they belong up there."
Men's 10k — 32 Teams
SCU Lineup: Joey Berriatua, Austin Blankenship, Aaron Brumbaugh, Will Burschinger, Bryan Crook, Ryan Greenough, Evan Misuraca, Noah Westfall
"The men, as a whole, were disappointed with their WCC performance, and the nice thing about Regionals is it gives them an opportunity to sit on that for a couple weeks and then go out and try and redeem that performance," Cushman said.
Crook's 30:47 mark led the Broncos at the regional meet last season. It was also the second-fastest 10k time in program history.
Stanford and Oregon rank first and second, respectively, in a region that has four Pac-12 teams at the top of the group. The Cardinal are the No. 4 team in the country and the Ducks are No. 7.
"Bryan is well suited for the 10k, and he's the fifth-year senior looking to have his best regional performance of his career," Cushman said. "Ryan has some Regional experience and is also well suited for the distance. He's done great in big and competitive fields in the past, and tends to race better in tougher conditions. Joey is a great competitor, and will work with those two.
