LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.’s women’s cross country team will head to San Francisco this weekend in search of its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships.
The Golden Eagles, who finished fourth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association championships on Oct. 24, will need to finish in the top four of Saturday’s NCAA West Regional hosted by San Francisco State to advance to nationals. Cal State L.A. has earned national top-15 finishes the past three years.
Cal State L.A. has finished in the top-five in the West Region four straight years and earned a trip to nationals last year after a fourth-place finish. The Golden Eagles then went on to take 13th in the nation.
Cal State L.A. won the 2006 West Region championship and finished second in 2007.
Vivien Wadeck, who won her second consecutive CCAA individual championship in October, will be looking for her second straight All-Region performance. She finished ninth in the regional last year at UC San Diego. Wadeck then went on to finish eighth in the country at the NCAA Championships in Slippery Rock, PA.
Lorena Banda, who earned All-CCAA honors for a second straight year by taking 11
th in the conference championships, was 20
th in the regional last year as a junior and just missed All-Region honors. The top 15 runners earn All-Region accolades.
Chico State, which won its second straight CCAA Championship last month, is the defending West Region champion. The Wildcats are ranked second in the nation.
The West Regional will include teams from the CCAA, Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Pacific-West Conference.