FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country are set to compete in the NCAA West Regionals on Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento. The women's 6,000-meter race begins at 11 a.m. PT while the men's 10K is set to start at 12 p.m.
The Titans will compete against teams such as Oregon, Boise State, Stanford, Washington, Portland, UCLA and many other premier teams in the nation are in the west region. The Titans are currently ranked 12th in the region on the women's side. The top two teams on both the men's and women's side earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Last time out, the Titans had a historical day when they hosted the Big West Championships. Samantha Huerta took second place individually to lead the women's squad to the best finish in program history at the conference championships. Lucina Vincent was also named Co-Big West Freshman of the Year after she took eighth at the conference championships.
"It's a great opportunity for our gals to compete at a high level," head coach John Elders said. "I know that we can run with Cal Poly who is ranked eighth in the region, we finished just six points behind them at the Big West Championships. I think the women are ready, we've had good practices since the Big West Championships and I'm anticipating great results for us."
For the men, Samuel Pimentel led the team to a third-place finish for the third straight year, marking the program's best three-year run since 1991-93 (3rd, T3rd, 2nd).
"We had to temper our expectations a little bit after losing Samuel Pimentel after the Big West Championships," Elders said. "It is what it is so the challenge now is to see how well we can do without him and see if we can surprise some people. Any way you look at it, this will be a great experience for our guys. All of them will be back on the team next year so we want them to perform well this year but no matter what it will be good for them going forward as well."
In 2017, the women's squad earned a 19th-place finish overall while the men took 17th place.
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