LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.’s women’s cross country team will head to Northern California this weekend for the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships.
The Golden Eagles, ranked sixth in the West Region and 25th in the nation, will face 10 other conference schools Saturday in the meet that will be hosted by Humboldt State and contested at Beau Pre Golf Course in McKinleyville.
The women’s 6,000-meter race is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
Cal State L.A. All-American
Vivien Wadeck is the defending conference champion and she looks to give the Golden Eagles three consecutive individual titles. Karla Alburez won the conference crown in 2007 while leading Cal State L.A. to the CCAA championship, its second overall and first since 1994.
Wadeck won last year’s race in San Bernardino with a time of 21:27.7. She then went on to earn All-West Region honors by finishing ninth and then earned All-America honors by finishing eighth in the NCAA Championships, the best finish for a Golden Eagle cross country runner since 1994.
Lorena Banda is the other returning Cal State L.A. runner who earned All-CCAA honors last year (top-15) after finishing 11
th. Newcomers
Vivien Rico,
Justina Sadauskaite and
Keri Molt have been running consistently in the top-five for the Golden Eagles this season.
The Golden Eagles finished second last season and have finished first or second for four straight years.
Chico State, which is ranked No. 1 in the country, is favored to win its second straight conference title. The Wildcats have seven All-Conference runners returning from last year’s team.
Three conference women’s teams are ranked in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national Top 25 poll, led by Chico State at No. 1. UC San Diego is 23rd and Cal State L.A. is 25th. In the regional poll, Chico State is No. 1, UC San Diego is No. 5, Cal State L.A. is No. 6 and Cal Poly Pomona is No. 7.