With an experience-laden, red-hot squad, the Long Beach State cross country team once again travels to the Inland Empire this Saturday for the Big West Conference Championships hosted by UC Riverside. The men’s 8K race is scheduled for a 9 a.m. start, while the women’s 6K will begin at 9:45 a.m. Both races will take place at UCR’s Agricultural Operations Course.
Both teams will be looking to improve from last year’s performance as the men’s team finished in fifth place (136 points) and the women’s squad came in at sixth (125 points). Cal Poly claimed the men’s title for the sixth year in a row, while the Highlanders won their first conference title in the women’s division.
“We are excited heading into the Big West Championships,” said distance coach Patrick Cunniff. “It is one of our most important meets of the year and we feel like both our men’s and women’s teams have trained and prepared very well. The competition should be great this weekend and we really feel we are ready for it. Both teams were picked pretty low in the preseason polls and we are motivated to prove them wrong.”
The 49er men will have a strong contingent of returning runners that competed on the same course in last year’s Big West Championship in Riverside. Juniors Travis Kulhman, Mark Thomas and Josh Ruff led The Beach as all three runners finished in the top 30, with Kulhman crossing the finish line in 23rd (25:19), Thomas in at 25th (25:21) and Ruff finishing in 29th (25:26.7). LBSU will also be supported by seniors Jacob Ainsworth and Dylan Jaedtke in which both athletes redshirted last season.
“The depth of the men’s team is very reassuring but our ultimate success will be determined by who can break-out and move up with the top guys in the conference,” added Cunniff. “Any of our nine guys is capable of a great race and we have to hope and plan that we get at least five of them.”
On the women’s side, the 49ers will be led by a trio of runners in senior Missy Barclay, junior Jennifer Rodriguez and sophomore Alisia Barajas. Barclay finished in 24th (21:33.70), while Barajas crossed the finish line in 51st (22:48.80). Rodriguez will be running in her first conference championship since the 2007 campaign as she redshirted last season. Freshman Anne Randall will also be a strong favorite for The Beach as she’s had an impressive first year, recording three top 10 finishes and leading the team in two of their meets this season.
“We continue to count on the leadership of Missy and Jennifer to help the new girls to Big West competition, but we also feel anyone of our top seven runners can run strong races and help the team score,” said Cunniff. “Annie (Randall) and Liz (Ramos) have both run No. 1 in different races and we expect them to be amongst the best in the conference.”
Report by LBSU