Nov. 10, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

COMING UP NEXT
The UC Davis men's and women's cross country team travel to Springfield, Ore. for the 2009 NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, hosted by the University of Oregon... The meet is set for Saturday, Nov. 14 at Springfield Country Club... The men's 10k race will begin at 9:45 a.m. while the women's 6K will start at 10:45 a.m.

LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA WEST REGIONALS
Kim Conley and Kaitlin Gregg had top-25 finishes in the women's 6K race and earned all-region honors at the 2008 NCAA Division I West Region Championships... Both teams earned program-best finishes as the women placed sixth and the men finished 11th... K.C. Cody led the men with a 40th-place finish while Russ Pfaff was 49th.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH WARTENBURG
Looking back on the Big West Championships: "With a week and a half of perspective, Big West can be framed as a stepping stone on both sides. The immediate sentiment coming off that meet is that it had to provide us with motivation in terms of feeling like we came away with some unfinished business. So that's been a good taste to keep in our mouths as we prepare for Regionals rather than just doing a big exhale and thinking `Well we're going to pat ourselves on the back for the week'. We haven't relented."

On keeping focused and motivated with a two week break in between races: "We've talked a lot about returning to a big meet format and how strategically we need to approach that scenario. Training-wise, we've really tried to consolidate the fitness. There's not a whole heck of a lot you're going to do two weeks before a meet at the tail end of a season to improve fitness markedly, so we're just trying to keep bodies healthy and prime. Physically in terms of sickness and injury we're in a pretty good place which is not always a given at this late stage of a season. Knock on wood, but if we can get through three more days without having half of the team fall sick then we'll be ahead of where most folks are."

On the competition that the team will face: "When you add in the Pac-10, right away you are looking at - on both men's and women's sides - some of the top teams in the nation, which is the best part about being in this region. You know you are lining up against the best but it also makes it a prohibitive process in terms of getting out of the regional meet and qualifying for nationals. On both the men's and women's side, Stanford and Oregon bring a lot to the table. UW women are a juggernaut program and then on the men's side Portland is a perennial power and they're out of the West Coast Conference."

On the men's race being a 10K rather than a typical 8K: "The men add extra kilometers and that's one where if teams are a little thin and also if they're young, you can really be exposed. You're adding six more really hard minutes of racing onto the men which is a lot to ask. We feel like we've prepared for a 10k distance and hopefully that will help us rather than act as a hindrance this weekend. You have to keep an eye on it. You know it's coming and some people say `Gee 8 to 10k. Not that big a difference.' But for someone who's never run a 10k in a context like this, it definitely is a different sort of physical and mental battle out there."

On the team goals for the weekend: "What we've talked about all year long is individuals running well enough in order to get the team ideally where we'd like to be. If we have some individuals who put themselves in the mix to qualify by themselves, then that's only going to pull the team score down and pull the team forward. So they're almost inextricably linked in that sense. A baseline goal would be for both teams to move up from where they're ranked. We don't talk a lot about the rankings and what they mean, but everybody on the regional rankings is going to be there so it's one day where you actually get to go and have the rankings sorted out in terms of some real results attached. So from 11th on the men's side and eight on the women's we'd like to sneak up two, three spots on both sides and sort of put ourselves in the mix."

SUMPTER CLAIMS WOMEN'S TITLE AT BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Redshirt freshman Sarah Sumpter claimed the first individual Big West Cross Country Championships title in UC Davis' Division I history Oct. 31... She clocked in with a season-best time of 20:34 in the 6K race and led the Aggie women to a second place team finish... The UC Davis men finished third... Jon Peterson placed seventh overall with a time of 24:09.6... Abbey Gallaher finished seventh for the women (21:00.9) and Caitlin Fitzgerald and Alison Stoakley placed 13th and 14th, respectively... Jonathan Sees finished 12th with a time of 24:33.6... Russ Pfaff was 19th (24.50.5).

SUMPTER NAMED BIG WEST WOMEN'S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Sarah Sumpter, a redshirt freshman out of Cloverdale, Calif., was named the 2009 Women's Athlete of the Year by the Big West Conference Nov. 4... She steadily improved all season to become one of the top runners for the Aggies... She led all UC Davis runners with a 34th place finish Oct. 17 and was named Big West Athlete of the Week for her efforts... She won the 6K women's race at the Big West Championships Oct. 31... Her win at the Big West Championships and her selection as the Women's Athlete of the Year mark just the second occasion that a freshman has taken both accolades in a season.

AWARDS PLENTIFUL FOR AGGIES IN 2009
Sarah Sumpter's Women's Athlete of the Year Award was the fourth conference honor for UC Davis in 2009... Jonathan Peterson was named Big West Athlete of the Week for the week of September 16 for placing first overall at the Hornet Jamboree Sept. 12... Russ Pfaff received the honor Sept. 30 for his performance at the Stanford Invitational Sept. 26... Sumpter was named Big West Athlete of the Week Oct. 21 for her 34th-place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals.