UCLA
NCAA West Regionals
Cross Country to Compete for NCAA Regional Titles
November 08, 2017 | Cross Country
2017 NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 โ 10:30 a.m. (PT)
Seattle, Wash. (Jefferson Golf Course)
Broadcast: FloTrack.com (subscription required)
BRUINS TO COMPETE FOR NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The UCLA men's and women's cross country squads will travel to Seattle, Wash. for the 2017 NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships. The meet is scheduled for Friday, November 10 at the Jefferson Golf Course. The competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. and is hosted by the University of Washington.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
7:30 a.m. - Championship course open
10:30 a.m. - Women's 6k Championship Race
11:30 a.m. - Men's 10k Championship Race
Immediately following second race, recognition of top runners and teams
(All times are Pacific Time)
THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
The West Regional Championships will feature a high-class field stacked with nationally-ranked teams on the men's and women's sides. The UCLA men enter the West Regionals tied for 10th nationally in the most recent USTFCCCA Poll, their highest ranking of the season, following a third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships. The Bruins also come into the weekend third in the West Region. The UCLA men will take on six nationally-ranked squads, a field headlined by Stanford (4), Portland (6), and Oregon (13), who are currently first, second, and fourth in the West, respectively. The UCLA women's squad enters the weekend eighth in the West Region, an improvement of two spots since their eighth-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships. The Bruin women will have a strong field of their own with which to contend, including nationally-ranked teams Oregon (3), San Francisco (4), and Stanford (7), who additionally fill the top three spots in the West Region rankings.
A LOOK AT THE BRUIN MEN
The UCLA men have enjoyed consistent team success this season, as the Bruins have posted Top-3 team finishes (including one meet victory) in all but one meet in which they have competed. The Bruins have shown a commitment to strong front-running and pack-running, as UCLA has placed a runner in the Top-10 and the remaining four scoring runners in the Top-35 in five of six meets this season.
Junior transfer Robert Brandt and sophomore Garrett Reynolds have led the Bruins all season, as each runner has finished as UCLA's first or second runner in each of the meets in which they have competed. Brandt has posted three Top-10 finishes this season, including a sixth-place showing at the Pac-12 Championships (8k). Reynolds has two such performances to his credit, most notably a second-place finish in the 8k at the Roy Griak Invite.
The Bruins have also shown their depth on the men's side, with five different student-athletes leading the men's squad in UCLA's six competitions thus far โ Jackson Marshall (George Kyte Classic), Reynolds (Roy Griak Invitational), Millen Trujillo (Master's University Invitational), Brandt (Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and Pac-12 Championships), and Carter Blunt (Bronco Invitational).
A LOOK AT THE BRUIN WOMEN
The UCLA women enter the West Regionals having shown off the strength of their younger athletes throughout the season. Freshman phenom Erika Adler has propelled a women's side that has featured at least two true freshmen in the UCLA Top-7 in every competition this season. Adler has been UCLA's top finisher at each of the last three meets she has raced (Roy Griak Invitational, Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, and Pac-12 Championships) and was the second freshman among all schools to cross the finish line at the conference meet.
Freshman Kira Loren was the top finisher for the Bruins at two other meets (TMU Invitational and Bronco Invitational). The Bruin women have also benefited from strong consistency from sophomore Cassandra Durgy, who has been in UCLA's scoring five in each of the four meets in which she has competed this season.
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2016 NCAA West Regionals saw the Bruin men take third overall and the UCLA women take seventh in Sacramento. Stanford swept the competition with men's and women's team victories. The UCLA men were led by a trio of seniors (Ferdinand Edman, Jonah Diaz, and Austin O'Neil), who finished fifth, 14th, and 26th, respectively. Carolina Johnson paced the Bruin women with a 21st-place finish and a time of 20:07.5 on the 6k course. Claire Markey finished in 30th place with a time of 20:20.7, and Cassandra Durgy finished 52nd with a time of 20:43.7. Jackie Garner finished with a time of 21:00.2, good for 61st place.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
UCLA's NCAA West Regional Championships success includes three team titles and three individual titles. The Bruin men won two consecutive West Region titles from 1980-81, with UCLA's Ron Cornell taking the 1980 individual crown. The UCLA women took home the 1986 West Regional team victory, and Bruin alumna Karen Hecox won the 1993 individual title. American distance running legend and UCLA alumnus Meb Keflezighi won the 1997 NCAA West Regional Championship en route to an NCAA Championship victory the same year.
PAC-12 RECAP
The UCLA cross country teams got their postseason campaigns started at the Pac-12 Championships, with the UCLA men taking third and the Bruin women finishing eighth overall. Junior transfer Robert Brandt led the men's squad with a sixth-place finish and an 8k time of 23:55.9. Sophomore Garrett Reynolds (24:08.3) finished 14th overall, and junior Jackson Marshall (24:16.5) took 23rd place. Senior Myles Smith was the Bruins' fourth runner, finishing in 26th place with a time of 24:23.5. Redshirt sophomore Colin Burke (24:23.5) took 35th overall, completing UCLA's scoring five. The UCLA women were led by freshman Erika Adler, who took 22nd place with a 6k time of 19:31.5. Sophomores Cassandra Durgy (20:07.9) and Claire Markey (20:22.0) finished 43rd and 52nd, respectively. A pair of true freshmen rounded out UCLA's Top-5, as Christina Rice (20:23.9) and Kira Loren (20:53.2) took 54th and 71st overall, respectively.
Players Mentioned
