Weber State University Athletics
WSU's Women and Men are set to run at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships Saturday
10/30/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
2008 MEN'S & WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
For Release: Thursday, October 30, 2008
@Big Sky Conference Championships
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Blue Lakes Park - Portland, Oregon
Women: 5K @10:00 a.m. (PDT) Men: 8K @ 11:00 a.m. (PDT)
Weber State women's and men's cross country teams are set to run at the BIG SKY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS this coming Saturday, November 1 in Portland, Oregon ... The meet is hosted by Portland State University and will be run at the Blue Lakes Park course. ... The women's 5K race begins at 10:00 a.m. (PDT), followed by the men's 8K race at 11:00 a.m. (PDT). Live scoring, and full results of the meet immediately following the conclusion of both races will be posted on the Big Sky Conference web site (www.bigskyconference.org.)
W O M E N
BIG SKY CONFERENCE HISTORY
This will be the 26th annual Big Sky Conference women's cross country championship. The first six years (1982 through 1987) it was the old Mountain West Conference championship. That conference merged with the Big Sky in 1988. . . . Weber State has won four Big Sky Conference team championships. WSU's first title came in 1993 (Salt Lake City, Utah), followed by crowns in 1997 (Rocklin, California), 2000 (Riverside, California) and 2006 (Sacramento, California). Those title came under Coach Jim Blaisdell. The Wildcats have had 12 second place finishes. . . . Only two Weber State runners have won an individual title. The first was Summer Schenk. She was the 1996 medalist in a meet hosted by Weber State at the Riverside Golf Course in Riverdale, Utah. The second came last year in Missoula, Montana when Sariah Long won in a time of 17:13.9.
LAST YEAR
Northern Arizona placed four runners in the top ten to capture the team title for the 13th time. Weber State, led by a first place finish from Sariah Long, was second with 51 points. The host team, Montana, was third with 89. ... WSU's Morgan Haws was third (17:45.2), followed by Lesley Harvey in 13th (18:23.9), Haley Reeves(now Rose) in 15th (18:25.8), Amy Cook in 19th (18:46.0) and Katie Chugg(now Thompson) in 44th (9:50.4).
THIS YEAR
Northern Arizona is again favored. The Lumberjacks are currently ranked 4th in the Mountain Region and 29th overall in the country. But WSU head coach Paul Pilkington feels some optimism about his young team.
"Northern Arizona is good and they have two runners up front who will tough to beat. To have put ourselves in a position to challenge them, we need to have Natalie (Haws) stay among the top four or five up front and have the rest of our pack keep pace with NAU's third and fourth runners. If we can do that, we could make it a very interesting race. Montana will be right there with us and has the talent to make a break through." said Pilkington.
Coach Pilkington's crew received a big setback on Wednesday (Oct. 29) when sophomore Haley Rose was injured in an automobile accident just two blocks from campus. She was on her way to a workout. Her injuries aren't life threatening or serious, but she did get banged up pretty good.
"Haley had just come back from a condition where her ribs were out of alignment making it difficult for her to breath. She ran well at the pre-national meet and was making great progress but right now it is questionable as to whether or not she will be able to run on Saturday." Pilkington said.
The Wildcat women only have seven runners on the roster with Rose, so if she is unable to run the ?Cats will only have six runners vying for five scoring spots.
"If Haley is unable run, we will need a season best effort from everyone," said Pilkington. "We've had two good weeks of workouts in good weather and I've seen improvement in everyone, so I hope that translates into those best efforts."
The Wildcats will go with the line up of:
Natalie Haws Fr. Kaysville, Utah Davis HS
Amy Cook Sr. Kennewick, Washington Kamiakin HS
Cassie Olson Jr. West Haven, Utah Fremont HS
Katie Thompson Jr. Ogden, Utah Fremont HS
?Haley Rose So. North Ogden, Utah Weber HS
Laken Skidmore Fr. Terreton, Idaho West Jefferson HS
Loren Storey Fr. Kaysville, Utah Davis HS
M E N
BIG SKY CONFERENCE HISTORY
This is the 46th annual Big Sky Conference men's cross country championship. The first was held in 1963 in Moscow, Idaho with the University of Idaho winning the title. ... The Wildcats have captured SEVEN Big Sky titles. The last one came in 2006 in Sacramento, California under veteran coach Chick Hislop. ... WSU's first league title came back in 1977 in Salt Lake City. Weber State's Jorge Ruiz was the individual champion. ... Weber State won three straight championships in 1989, 1990 and 1991 with having a individual winner. The Wildcats won it again in 1997. The Wildcats have had 15 second place finishes as well. ... Individually, Weber State has had five medalist finishes by four different runners. Ruiz won in 1977. Kris Cary won it 10 years later in 1987. Chris Jones won it twice in 1992 and again in 1994 and Nate Long captured the 2004 crown.
LAST YEAR
Northern Arizona had a one-two individual finish by 2008 Olympian Lopez Lomong and David McNeill to win the team title with 22 points. Weber State was second with 55 points behind a third place finish from Seth Pilkington (24:17.8). Montana State was third with 95 points. The meet was held in Missoula, Montana. ... David Olson had a 10th place finish in 24:53.8, with Bret Ferrier right behind in 11th at 25:01.7. ... Bryant Jensen was 14th (25:14.7), followed by Steve Shepherd (17th: 25:27.6), Todd Gilbert (20th: 25:32.6), Jace Nye (21st: 25:44.0) and Bob Lambert (26:00.2)
THIS YEAR
Northern Arizona is the overwhelming favorite. The Lumberjacks are ranked first in the NCAA Mountain Region and 8th overall in this week's top 30 poll. They are led by sophomore David McNeill. McNeill finished second last season and was second at the Pre-National Meet "Blue Race" two weeks ago.
"Northern Arizona is really good. David McNeill is probably one of the top four runners in the nation this season," said Pilkington. "Ourselves, Montana State and Eastern Washington will be battling for the second spot. EWU has really improved as a team this season. They have a couple of outstanding runners as does Montana State."
Teams are allowed to take eight runners to the Big Sky meet, so Pilkington is taking Levi Lefevre (Soph. - Tropic, Utah) to the meet. It will be his first race of the season. Lefevre missed the 2008 outdoor season and most of this past summer's training workouts nursing an injury.
"Like the women, the men have also had two weeks of good workouts," said Pilkington. "We have Trevor Ricks back in the line up and healthy. Bryant Jensen continues to become better and better. He has a chance to finish among the top five this week. This will be Levi's first race of the season so I don't know how he will react. The key will be how well our upperclassmen run."
The Wildcats will go with ...
Bryant Jensen Sr. Farr West, Utah Fremont HS
David Olson Sr. Colorado Springs, Colorado Lewis Palmer HS
Bob Lambert Jr. West Jordan, Utah West Jordan HS
Mike Hardy Fr. Morgan, Utah Morgan HS
Jace Nye Jr. Kaysville, Utah Davis HS
Parry Higginson So. South Weber, Utah Christian Heritage
Trevor Ricks Fr. Alpine, Wyoming Star Valley HS
Levi Lefevre So. Tropic, Utah Bryce Valley
NEXT MEET
The NCAA Mountain Region Meet is set for Saturday, November 15. This year's meet is being hosted by Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
PILKINGTON IS IN HIS SECOND SEASON AT WSU
Former Weber State standout runner, PAUL PILKINGTON, begins his second season as head coach of both the women's and men's cross country teams. Pilkington also serves as the distance coach for both the men's and women's indoor / outdoor track and field teams as well. ... Last year in his first season, both the women and men finished second in the Big Sky Conference Cross Country championships. ... Three individuals from those teams participated in the 2007 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship. Sariah Long and Morgan Haws ran in the women's race, while Pilkington's son, Seth, competed on the men's side. Long finished 54th and Haws, 88th. Pilkington (Seth) finished 26th overall earning all-America honors
Players Mentioned
