It’s do or die time for the San Diego State women’s cross countryteam.
After a tumultuous season that saw SDSU have more ups and downsthan a roller coaster, the team hopes to salvage its season Saturdayat the NCAA Western Regional Championships in Fresno.
“They’re at a crossroads now,” said head coach Rahn Sheffield.”They have one shot. You might as well go for all the marbles and Ibelieve they can place high and they can place well. It’s up to everyindividual.”
The Aztecs are one of 30 teams in the region hoping to gain anautomatic berth into the NCAA Championships by finishing in the toptwo spots. There are 13 at-large bids up for grabs nationally.
“I expect everyone to run their best and hardest,” said seniorSophia Hawker. “I’m sure everyone will because this is our last race.After this there is nothing we can do.”
Odds are SDSU will not move on to the NCAA Championships. A yearago the Aztecs finished 18th, a number which should be improved upon.
“I’d like to see us get into the upper half,” said assistant coachJennifer Nanista. “If we run like we did in conference we should dothat. We had only a 30-second gap from one to five. That kind ofgrouping is how you place well at cross country meets.”
With four top-10 teams, the West region is by far the deepest inthe country. Headlined by Pac-10 powerhouses Stanford, Arizona State,Arizona and Washington, the regional promises to be hard fought.
Stanford heads in on a sour note. The second-ranked Cardinal fellshort against BYU at the Pre-NCAA meet which resulted in a loss oftheir No. 1 ranking. Last season they were victorious in the regionalby placing four runners in the top-10. A repeat of that performanceis not out of the question.
Arizona State has been hard on the heels of Stanford all season.Led by junior Lisa Aguilera, the Sun Devils finished second in thePac-10 and have a legitimate shot of earning an automatic bid.
No. 7 Arizona and No. 9 Washington hung tough the with the rest ofthe big boys during the Pac-10 season. Finishing third and fourthrespectively in conference, both teams have runners that couldcompete for individual honors.
The top-four runners not on teams earning automatic bids will beinvited to the NCAA Championships as well. Last season SDSU seniorSophia Hawker finished 24th overall which was good enough to advance.She was the first Aztec to compete at the NCAA Championships in 19years.
“I’d love for Sophia to qualify for Nationals again,” Nanistasaid. “There are three people who have a legitimate shot of going –Sophia, Kylie (Edwards) and Alicia (Stewart). They need to run likethey did at conference.”
Edwards and Hawker formed a friendly rivalry during the seasonwhich aided both runners.
“It helped a lot,” Hawker said. “She’d be coming up on me andencourage me. I’d encourage her and it helped to get through theraces especially when either one of us would struggle.”
Hawker hopes the lessons she learned from her experience last yearwill carry over for another invitation to the nationals.
“It’s hard work,” she said. “Everyone who’s there deserves to bethere. Everyone is really serious about it and it’s fun to see.”
