- TEAM THINKING: Members of the ASU women's cross country team convene after recent practice. The whole team travels to Seattle this week for the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday. (Photo by Annie Wechter)
Rankings: Men: none; Women: 2nd regionally, 6th nationally
2009 finish: Men: 8th at Pac-10 Championships; Women: 30th at NCAA Championships
The Wildcat women, who took 2nd at the Pre-National meet, are led by standout junior Hannah Moen, who finished 11th at Pre-Nationals and has paced UA in the majority of their races this year.
The men are led by junior Stephen Sambu, a nationally-ranked harrier who captured the individual crown at the Griak Invitational earlier this year.
ASU
Rankings: Men: 8th regionally; Women: 7th regionally
2009 Finish: Men: 19th in NCAA; Women: 24th in NCAA
ASU heads into Seattle looking to put it all together when it really counts.
The Sun Devils, who are led by junior Lindsay Prescott on the women’s side and redshirt senior Ben Engelhardt on the men’s, are coming off a disappointing Pre-National meet showing but have the chance to be dangerous if they race as they have been during training.
California
Rankings: Men: 4th regionally, 22nd nationally; Women: 5th regionally, 22nd nationally
2009 Finish: Men: 7th in Pac-10; Women: 5th in Pac-10
The Bears, coming off seventh (men) and eighth (women) place finishes at Pre-Nationals, are led by experienced veterans on both sides.
Senior Michael Coe is the frontrunner for the men, while junior Deborah Maier, who has paced the Bears in every race she has entered for the past two years, leads the Cal women.
Oregon
Rankings: Men: 2nd regionally, 3rd nationally; Women: 1st regionally, 2nd nationally
2009 Finish: Men: 2nd in NCAA; Women: 9th in NCAA
UO swept both the men’s and women’s titles at its last competition, the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore.
Jordan Hasay and Alexandra Kosinski, who finished first and second in that race, are expected to lead the Duck women.
Matthew Centrowitz, Luke Puskedra and Danny Mercado finished first, second and third at the Dellinger, respectively, and they figure to carry that momentum into the Pac-10 Championships.
Oregon State
Rankings: Women: none
2009 Finish: 8th in Pac-10
The Beavers, who do not have a men’s team, come into the Pac-10 Championships with no clear frontrunner.
OSU has had a different runner pace them in each race this season, and will rely on their youthful roster (only six seniors) to improve on their finish at last year’s Pac-10 Championships.
Southern California
Rankings: Women: none
2009 Finish: 9th in Pac-10
The Trojans, who do not have a men’s team, are led by senior Zsofia Erdelyl.
Also keep an eye on up-and-coming sophomore Kelly Owen, who set a personal record a few weeks ago and paced USC in its last event.
Stanford
Rankings: Men: 1st regionally, 1st nationally; Women: 3rd regionally, 9th nationally
2009 Finish: Men: 10th in NCAA; Women: 16th in NCAA
Stanford figures to be the heavy favorite on the men’s side heading into the meet.
The Stanford trio of Chris Derrick (six-time All-American), Elliott Heath (four-time All-American) and Jacob Riley (four-time All-American), who paced the field at Pre-Nationals by taking the top three spots, will look to run the table while Derrick attempts to repeat as the individual Pac-10 champion.
On the women’s side, the Cardinal look to Kathy Kroeger to pace them after her third place finish at Pre-Nationals.
UCLA
Rankings: Men: 5th regionally; Women: 9th regionally
2009 Finish: Men: 5th in Pac-10; Women: 7th in Pac-10
Junior Dylan Knight has emerged as the frontrunner for the Bruin men, while Shannon Murakami has been UCLA’s No. 1 woman harrier all season long.
Most recently, the Bruin men took 11th and the women 19th at Pre-Nationals.
Washington
Rankings: Men: 11th regionally; Women: 4th regionally, 20th nationally
2009 Finish: Men: 18th in NCAA; Women: 3rd in NCAA
UW heads into the Pac-10 Championships, a meet hosted by the Huskies, with a lot of momentum from Pre-Nationals.
The women, who had a top-10 finish in Terre Haute, Ind., are led by two-time All-American senior Mel Lawrence and freshman phenom Katie Flood.
Sophomore Joey Bywater has emerged recently as the frontrunner for the Husky men.
Washington State
Rankings: Men: 12th regionally; Women: none
2009 Finish: Men: 6th in Pac-10; Women: 10th in Pac-10
Most recently, the Cougar men took 23rd and the women 34th at Pre-Nationals.
Junior Jono Lafler leads the WSU men, while the Cougar women have been anchored by freshman Ruby Roberts all year long.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
