Fresno State Athletics
A Split Weekend Ahead for the 'Dogs
10/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
By: Dayna Hill
daynah@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State men's and women's cross country teams compete at separate invitationals for the first time this season on Saturday.
One group of `Dog harriers look forward to their most important test of the regular season in the Pre-NCAA Invitational, this Sat., Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind. while another group will skip Indiana to compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Both teams will try and compete head-to-head against other top teams nationally and within the conference to get ready for the Mountain West Championships just 13 days later (Oct. 31 at Woodward Park in Fresno).
For the first time under head coach Sean McManus, his teams will be competing at the ISU Pre-National Invitational. The races will be evenly divided into two races (blue and red) since Indiana State University's LaVern Gibson Championship Course is unable to handle the 79 women's teams and 79 men's teams in single contests.
The women's 6K races will start at 9:00 a.m. PT and 10:15 a.m. PT. The men's 10K races will start at 9:35 a.m. PT and 10:50 a.m. PT.
PRE-NATIONALS INVITATIONAL
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2014
Time: 11:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. - Women's 6K 11:35 a.m. and 12:50p.m. - Men's 8K
Location: LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Terre Haute, Ind.
Host: Indiana State University (www.gosycamores.com)
Entries: College teams
Course Description: The course was designed to allow spectators easy viewing of nearly all the race course, while affording the athletes an ideal racing environment. The course is NCAA regulation width and has an all grass running lane with gentle uphills and wide turns. The NCAA Division I Championships were held on the course in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Results: Available afterwards at gobulldogs.com and www.directathletics.com
Tentative Bulldog Entries:
Women:
Lyndsie Etherton, Julianne Jacques, Mackenzie Landa, Carina Mendoza and Annemarie Schwanz.
Men:
Uriel Cabanas, Nathan Esparza, Joel Gonzalez, Chris Grimble, Matt Kwiatkowski and Efren Reyes
SANTA CLARA BRONCO INVITATIONAL
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2014
Time: Men's 8K 9am Women's 6K 9:45
Location: Baylands Park, Sunnyvale, Calif.
Host: Santa Clara University (www.santaclarabroncos.com/)
Entries: College and Club teams
Course Description: The course at Baylands consists of low cut grass and hard packed dirt paths, with a few short paved sections.
Results: Available afterwards at gobulldogs.com and www.directathletics.com
Tentative Bulldog Entries:
Women:
Kelly Duffy, Brittany Laygo, Meagan Paracholski and Taylor Samson
Men:
Cooper Gill and Esteban Vega
PRE-NATIONALS INVITATIONAL UP NEXT
The `Dogs will have a split team this weekend, one group will be attending the Pre National Invitational, that will take place on Saturday, October 18. Much like their last two meets the `Dogs will be challenged by many of the nation's top runners. This will be the Bulldogs' first appearance at the Pre National Invitational and will hopefully get them a jumpstart on the course that will host the NCAA Championships, November 22.
On the women's side, this will be the first time that the `Dogs will get to compete this season against Colorado State and Wyoming, teams are ranked third and fourth respectively in a mid-season conference coaches poll. For the `Dog men they will run against Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming, who ranked in a tie for first, third and fifth in the mid-season coaches poll. The entire poll can be found at the bottom of this release.
SANTA CLARA BRONCO INVITATIONAL UP NEXT
The `Dogs will take another team to compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Saturday October 18. At the Bronco Invite the `Dogs will compete against conference foes Nevada, San Jose State, UNLV and Utah State.
This will be the seventh consecutive year under coach McManus that the `Dogs have had teams compete at the Bronco Invite. Last year both Bulldog teams placed eighth amongst a competitive field of runners.
HEAD COACH MCMANUS COMMENTS
"The Pre-National meet is going to be very competitive", said head coach Sean McManus. "We're excited to take the group there. We have never gone so I am interested in seeing how they respond to such a big atmosphere. The course in Terre Haute is a truer cross country course than we usually see in California, because there will be uneven grass and some hills. When we compete in California we get a lot of manicured courses because the weather makes the courses easier to maintain. There is scheduled to be some rain out there this week, so when we get to Indiana the ground should be a little muddier which will make for sloppier conditions than normal."
"Most of the runners have competed at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in the past," said McManus. "This meet will give everyone on the team an opportunity to compete one last time before the Mountain West Championships. We want everyone to be able to see where they are compared to this time last year and use that information to determine our lineup for the MW Championships."
SIZING UP THE PRE-NATIONAL FIELD
The Bulldog men will be running against a strong nationally-ranked field. They will be competing against the top two teams in the nation, (No. 1 Colorado and No. 2 Oregon) and seven other top 30-ranked teams, (No. 19 Eastern Kentucky, No. 21 Southern Utah, No. 22 Colorado State, No. 23 Indiana, No. 26 Furman, No. 29 Tulsa and No. 30 Texas) on Saturday.
On the women's side they will be competing against six nationally ranked teams. Four of the teams are ranked in the top 10 (No. 1 Michigan, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Georgetown and No. 7 Colorado), and the final two teams are in the top 25 of the polls, No. 13 North Carolina and No. 22 Baylor.
SIZING UP THE BRONCO INVITATIONAL FIELD
The men's team will be competing against a field of 30 regional schools. The women's team will be running against 30 teams. Both Nevada and San Jose State will be in the women's race, giving the `Dogs a final chance to run against teams from the Mountain West before the Championships on October 31.
STRONG SHOWING AT STANFORD
The Fresno State men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday and came away with 10th and ninth-place finishes three weeks ago.
The Bulldog men's team scored a total of 258 points, placing 10th led by sophomore Matt Kwiatkowski who place 37th in the 8K race (24:34) to give the `Dogs 25 points. Washington State won the men's meet with 73 points, narrowly beating UC Santa Barbara (74 points) and No. 5 ranked Stanford (75 points). Individually in the men's race, Kwiatkowski (37th, 24:34) and senior Chriss Grimble (43rd, 24:39) were again close finishers and only five seconds apart. They were followed by the final scoring three, freshman Efren Reyes(109th, 25:16) and sophomores Nathan Esparza (121st, 25:21) and Uriel Cabanas (164th, 25:43). Freshmen Joel Gonzalez (224th, 26:15) and Esteban Vega (293rd, 27:04) and sophomore Cooper Gill (328th, 27:42) completed the Bulldog entries.
The Fresno State women scored a total of 254 points with their top finisher, junior Annemarie Schwanz, finishing 17th overall (6K 21:32) to earn the Bulldogs 15 points. The host school won the women's meet with a total of 71 points, as the No. 4 ranked Stanford Cardinal women had all five of its scorers finish in the top 25. The women's team beat conference foes, San Diego State (10th, 256 points) by two points and San Jose State (16th, 430 points) by 176 points. The `Dogs were led for the third straight meet this fall by Schwanz (17th, 21:32), who ran the 10th-fastest time on the Bulldogs' all-time list and its fastest at the Stanford Invitational. Freshman Mackenzie Landa followed in 47th place (22:13), and right behind her was redshirt senior Carina Mendoza (54th, 22:14). The final two scorers for the Bulldogs were junior Julianne Jacques (64th, 22:33) and senior Meagan Paracholski (229th, 24:20). Senior Lyndsie Etherton (235th, 24:35), sophomore Taylor Samson (244th, 24:43) and sophomore Brittany Laygo (293rd, 25:47) rounded out the finishers for women's team.
UP AHEAD IN THE DISTANCE
In two weeks the `Dogs will be back in action competing at home in the 2014 Mountain West Cross Country Championships, on Friday, October 31.
MEET COACH MCMANUS
Sean McManus enters his seventh season leading Fresno State's cross country teams and the track and field distance squads. He has coached 63 All-Conference runners during his time here and seven Conference Champions. During his time at Fresno State McManus has coached 19 athletes to the Bulldogs' All-Time List. McManus has taken Bulldog student-athletes to the NCAA Championships in both cross country and track and field. He has also led 15 FSU athletes to the NCAA Regionals.
WOODWARD IS WHERE IT'S AT IN 2014
The season-opening Fresno State Invitational was also a preview of the same course for the 2014 Mountain West Cross Country Championships, slated for Friday, October 31. The historic cross country venue will also host the CIF state high school championships on Saturday, November 29.
MID SEASON COACHES' POLL
2014 MOUNTAIN WEST MIDSEASON MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACHES' POLL
Pl. Team (1st place votes) Points
1. Colorado State (4) 45
New Mexico (4) 45
3. Air Force 35
4. Boise State 32
5. Wyoming 27
6. Utah State 19
7. Fresno State 12
8. San José State 9
2014 MOUNTAIN WEST MIDSEASON WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACHES' POLL
Pl. Team (1st place votes) Points
1. New Mexico (9) 99
2. Boise State (1) 87
3. Colorado State (1) 77
4. Wyoming 70
5. Air Force 61
6. Utah State 51
7. Nevada 50
8. Fresno State 41
9. San Diego State 34
10. San José State 18
11. UNLV 17
ONLINE CROSS COUNTRY LINKS
Mountain West Cross Country: http://www.themwc.com/
NCAA West Regional Host: www.GoStanford.comNCAA
Men's Cross Country: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/cross-country-men/d1
NCAA Women's Cross Country: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/cross-country-women/d1
National / Regional Polls: http://www.ustfccca.org/team-rankings-polls-central/division-i-rankings
NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Handbook: http://www.ustfccca.org/assets/handbooks/d1-cc-handbook.pdf
IAAF: www.iaaf.org
United States Olympic Committee: www.olympic-usa.org
USA Track and Field: www.usatf.org
"Be Bold!" - The 'Dogs host the Mountain West Cross Country Championships on Friday, October 31st at Woodward Park.
