Runners headed to Hawaii for West Regional
November 2, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
The Alaska Nanooks men's cross country team is competing in the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships being hosted by Hawaii Pacific University on Saturday at the Kahuku Golf Course in Kahuku, Hawaii.
The men's 10-kilometer race begins at 8 a.m. HT and the top five team finishers in and the top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams will travel to Joplin, Missouri, in two weeks for the NCAA II National Championships at Missouri Southern University.
Alaska's men are looking to continue their rising trend from a year ago after moving up two spots at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships two weeks ago. The Nanooks took eighth out of 10 teams after finishing last in 2011.
"If they can run as well as they did early in the season they can move up," said associate head coach Matt Dunlap. "This year's team is deeper than last year's squad and we know that want to end the season on a high note."
Alaska Anchorage is the two-time defending regional champion in the men's division. Chico State had an eight-year reign as the men's champion end in 2011, finishing second.
The Blue and Gold are led by redshirt freshman Ross MacDougall and junior Tux Siems. For MacDougall it is his first experience at the West Region Championships, while Siems is making his third trip. Last year, he was the Nanooks' top finisher in 67th (33:23) at the regional hosted in Spokane, Wash.
Also running this weekend are juniors Andrew Arnold and Wyatt Mayo, sophomore Kenny Brewer, and freshmen Isaac Lammers and John Klein. Arnold, Mayo and Brewer all ran in the 2011 event, while Lammers and Klein are making their West Region debuts.
"We have some guys running in just their second career 10k this weekend so it's a big learning experience for them," Dunlap said. "I want to see the whole team go into it and run the best that they can because they have the ability to do better as a group and we always want to end the season well."