Oct. 29, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

COMING UP NEXT
The UC Davis men's and women's cross country team will travel to Riverside, Calif. to compete in the Big West Conference Championships at UC Riverside's Agricultural Operations Course... The men's 8K race will begin at 9:00 a.m. while the women's 6K race is set to start at 9:45 a.m.

LAST YEAR AT THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Led by former Aggie K.C. Cody, the UC Davis men's team finished as runner-ups... Kaitlin Gregg and Kim Conley placed sixth and seventh to lead the women to a third place finish... Last year's finish was a program-best for both teams at the conference championships... Gregg, Conley and Cody each earned all-conference honors... Cal Poly won the men's team title while UC Riverside won the women's team title, its first.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH WARTENBURG
On the weekend goals: "Improvement is the goal. Basically what they've talked about on both sides is contending for a title. The nice thing is that on both sides we're not going in as heavy favorites and we certainly haven't adopted the attitude that it's ours for the taking and all we have to do is show up. I think that fact has kept us a little bit honest knowing that we have to go in and have a great day on both sides to excel. We're going into three years in the Big West in cross country and track. We still haven't had a team title and that's something that would be huge to bring back to crack through that ice and say hey we won a title there and set that precedent.
On the competition: "Cal Poly on the men's side has been the dominant force over the last six, seven years. You factor in there not only the physical element of it but, the longer a string grows of conference titles, then you have that whole mental obstacle that comes too in terms of slaying a giant like that. Santa Barbara's men have also run really well recently and you can't ever count out UC Riverside because essentially this is a hone meet for them. On the women's side, similar. Riverside runs at home, Cal Poly has a decent women's team, so it'll be a thick race up front. On bouncing back from the showing at Pre-Nationals: "Basically we put the whole week of Pre-Nats under the microscope as a group and just looked at things we could hve done better and/or differently and addressed some of that. We also made the decision that we would talk about it and then put it behind us and avoid anything similar and just move forward. We didn't reframe or change any of our goals but we talked about `Okay we had a bump in the road. How do we still pursue the goals and not let that Pre-Nats meet be a defining moment for the rest of the season?'"

SUMPTER EARNS BIG WEST HONORS
Sophomore Sarah Sumpter was named the Big West Conference Women's Athlete of the Week for the week of Sept. 21... She is the first women's cross country runner to earn the honor since Kim Conley was named Co-Athlete of the Week Oct. 22, 2008... Sumpter led all UC Davis runners at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet Oct. 17... She finished 34th overall in the 6K "blue" race with a time of 21:21.9... That time lowered her previous season best by three seconds... The 2009 season marks the first time in program history that multiple Aggies have won Athlete of the Week awards... Junior Russ Pfaff earned the honor the week of Sept. 30 for his performance at the Stanford Invitational Sept. 26... Sophomore Jonathan Peterson received the accolade the week of Sept. 14 for his performance at the Hornet Invitational Sept. 12.

RESULTS AND RECAPS
Members of the UC Davis men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Terre Haute, Ind. for the 2009 NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet while others competed in the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara... Sarah Sumpter led all Aggie runners at the Pre-Nationals Meet, finishing 34th overall in the 6K "blue" race with a time of 21:21.9... The Aggie women finished 15th overall... On the men's side, Jonathan Peterson was the top runner with a 68th-place finish in a time of 24:44.5... The men were 30th in the 8K "white" race... At the Bronco Invitational, Calvin Thigpen led the men's side with a final time of 25:22 in the 8K race... He placed 35th overall and the men's team finished 12th out of 15 teams... Samantha Kearney placed 35th in the women's 5K race with a time of 18:09... The women were 11th out of 17 teams.

AGGIES IN THE POLLS
The men are currently ranked 11th in the USTFCCCA West Region poll while the UC Davis women are eighth.

LOOKING AHEAD
UC Davis will compete at the NCAA West Region Championships in Eugene, Ore. Saturday, Nov. 14... The men's race will begin at 9:45 a.m. with the women's following at 10:45 a.m.