For the second consecutive year, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly took home
the women's and men's titles at the Big West Cross Country Championships
Saturday morning in Riverside. Santa Barbara's Lauren Christman and Utah
State's Trevor Ball were the top individual finishers.
By virtue of their performances, Christman and Ball also received the
Big West Cross Country Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards, respectively.
UCSB's Pete Dolan and Cal Poly's Mike Conover were named Coaches of the
Year.
Christman won the women's 6K race in 20:35.1, the fastest time by a Big
West runner this year. She was three seconds ahead of her sister, Lindsay
Christman, who finished second. Mary Kamau (Idaho), Stephanie Rothstein
(UCSB), and Ashley Johnson (Utah State) round out the top five.
The Gauchos took six of the top twenty spots to claim their second consecutive
Big West team title. Idaho finished second with Utah State, Cal Poly,
and UC Irvine finishing in the top five.
Ball captured the men's title in 24:08.8, eight seconds in front of teammate
Clark Bryner. Cal Poly's Blake Swier, UCSB's Chris Ashley, and UCI's Ricky
Barnes were also in the top five.
On the team side, Cal Poly also repeated as conference champions, placing
five of the top ten finishers and eight of the top twenty. Utah State
finished second, followed by UCSB, UCI, and Cal State Fullerton.
Jordan Horn was the top Titan finisher, running 12th in the men's race
in 24:37.7. Nick Arciniaga was 16th, Marcos Campos was 19th, Dan Miller
was 35th and Damien Nieves was 39th.
For Horn, it was an improvement of 10 spots from his 22nd place showing
a year earlier. Arciniaga also moved up from 19th and Campos was five
spots better than his 24th place in 2002. The team scored better (117
to 130) than last year but dropped a notch in the standings.
"We competed well, UCSB and UC Irvine just outran us and ran outstanding
races to finish ahead of us," said Coach John Elders. "We'll
try to get back at them at NCAA regionals in two weeks."
On the women's side, Maria Blazquez ran 35th in 22:08.2. Following her
were Christine Ruby in 37th, Luz Valdez in 44th, Dahamar Perez in 49th
and Juliane Masciana in 52nd.
"The women were not on their game," said Elders. " A couple
of the women were sick. We didn't have the kind of pack we've had in recent
weeks. But I'm proud of their effort and we will have another shot in
two weeks to show we are a better team."
Blazquez moved up from her 49th place showing a year ago. Ruby also moved
up 14 places as the team scored better (197 to 225) but dropped a place
as well.
2004 Big West Conference Cross Country Championships Women's 6K
1. Lauren Christman - JR, UCSB - 20:35.1
2. Lindsay Christman - JR, UCSB - 20:38.6
3. Mary Kamau - JR, Idaho - 20:46.7
4. Stephanie Rothstein - JR, UCSB - 20:47.7
5. Ashley Johnson - SO, Utah State - 20:56.4
6. Kim Ramirez - SR, UC Irvine - 20:59.1
7. Linda Ripplinger - SR, Utah State - 20:59.4
8. Mandy Macalister - SO, Idaho - 21:02.1
9. Cosette Smith - SR, UCSB - 21:04.6
10. Bevin Kennelly - JR, Idaho - 21:06.0
2004 Big West Conference Cross Country Championships Men's 8K
1. Trevor Ball - JR, Utah State - 24:08.8
2. Clark Bryner - JR, Utah State - 24:16.1
3. Blake Swier - SR, Cal Poly - 24:20.5
4. Chris Ashley - SO, UCSB - 24:21.6
5. Ricky Barnes - JR, UC Irvine - 24:22.4
6. Mike Chavez - SO, UCSB - 24:23.8
7. Andy Coughlin - JR, Cal Poly - 24:25.5
8. Luke Llamas - SO, Cal Poly - 24:28.6
9. Jeff Porto - SR, Cal Poly - 24:29.4
10. Ryan Moorcroft - SR, Cal Poly - 24:32.8
