UC Davis Women Claim Second Straight Region Title

Men's team finishes second; both teams will compete at nationals on Nov. 23

 
 

 
Sopagna Eap placed 6th at the West Regionals to lead the Aggie women to their second straight title and 22nd consecutive berth at the NCAA Championships.

Photo by Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise
 

Nov. 9, 2002

Untitled Document

FRESNO, Calif. --- Senior Sopagna Eap finished sixth individually while teammate Laura Cherdack placed 10th to lead UC Davis to its second straight women's team title at the NCAA West Region Cross Championships at Woodward Park Saturday morning. Eap covered the 6K course in a time of 22:18. The Aggie women scored 86 team points, barely edging Chico State, which finished second with 91 points.

By virtue of their finish among the top three teams, the UC Davis women advance to the NCAA Championships for a record 22nd consecutive year. The Division II national meet will be held at Ashland University (Ohio) on November 23.

On the men's side, Jak Kuehn placed seventh and Steve Laurie took 11th to help UC Davis placed second in the 10K race. Kuehn crossed the line with a team-best time of 32:47. Chico State placed five runners among the top 15 to take the team title at 43 points. The Aggies scored 86 to secure the runner-up finish an a berth at nationals.

The Aggie men had captured each of the last four West Region championships.

Kuehn, Laurie, Eap and Cherdack each earn All-West Region distinction for finishing among the top 15 individuals. Senior Ann Glenn just missed such distinction at 17th, while freshman Michelle Solone placed 21st and sophomore Priscilla Moreno cross in 32nd place to round out the UC Davis scoring in the women's race. Kelsey Kaiser and Jessica Neu also represented the Aggies, placing 50th and 56th, respectively.

Kuehn and Laurie were joined by Steve Fairclough (19th), Alex Daniels (25th) and Justin Rau (31st) in the scoring column. Teammates Tim Helms and Matt Laye finished 48th and 51st, respectively.

Aggie head coach Sue Williams was named West Region Coach of the Year on the women's side, while Chico mentor Gary Towne captured the respective men's award.

Paul Kezes of Western Washington was the overall winner in the men's race, finishing in 31:58. Chico's Chris Eggers crossed 12 seconds later for second place, then Cal Poly Pomona's Mark Batres placed third at 32:25. On the women's side, it was Ann Marie Housen of Cal State L.A. claiming the regional title at 21:27. Hawaii Pacific's Sayuri Kusutani finished second with a 21:48 time, followed by UC San Diego's Audrey Sung at 22:07.

Both the Aggie men's and women's teams have placed among the top five teams at nationals in each of the past two years, including back-to-back third-place showings by the women.

 

2002 NCAA WEST REGION CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif. - Hosted by Cal St. Stanislaus

MEN'S TEAM SCORES - 1. Chico State 43; 2. UC Davis 86; 3. Alaska Anchorage 105; 4. UC San Diego 113; 5. Humboldt State 120; 6. Northwest Nazarene 146; 7. Western Washington 179; 8. Cal Poly Pomona 194; 9. Western Oregon 202; 10. Hawaii Pacific 213; 11. Seattle University 299; 12. Central Washington 313; 13. Chaminade 420; 14. BYU-Hawaii 434; 15. Saint Martin's 449; 16. San Francisco State 494.

MEN'S INDIVIDUALS (Top 10 plus Aggies) - 1. Paul Kezes, WWU, 31:58; 2. Chris Eggers, CSUC, 32:10; 3. Mark Batres, CPP, 32:25; 4. Peter Clusener, HSU, 32:29; 5. Sean Rivers, UAA, 32:39; 6. Christian Madsen, HPU, 32:45; 7. Jak Kuehn, UC Davis, 32:47; 8. Tim LeCount, SPU, 33:05; 9. Matt Faulkner, CSUC, 33:06; 10. Patrick Boivin, CSUC, 33:13... 11. Steve Laurie, 33:15; 19. Steve Fairclough, 33:40; 25. Alex Daniels, 34:00; 31. Justin Rau, 34:21; 48. Tim Helms, 34:56; 51. Matt Laye, 35:01.

 

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES - 1. UC Davis 86; 2. Chico State 91; 3. UC San Diego 126; 4. Cal St. Stanislaus 141; 5. Humboldt State 160; 6. Central Washington 171; 7. Western Washington 173; 8. Hawaii Pacific 217; 9. Alaska Anchorage 246; 10. Western Oregon 294; 11. San Francisco State 304; 12. Cal St. San Bernardino 333; 13. BYU-Hawaii 338; 14. Cal Poly Pomona 384; 15. Seattle University 391; 16. Montana State-Billings 407; 17. Cal State L.A. 450; 18. Chaminade 508; 19. Northwest Nazarene 531; 20. Cal St. Bakersfield 563.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUALS (Top 10 plus Aggies) - 1. Ann Marie Housen, CSULA, 21:27; 2. Sayuri Kusutani, HPU, 21:48; 3. Audrey Sung, UCSD, 22:07; 4. Chelsea Smith, BYUH, 22:13; 5. Nina Christensen, HPU, 22:15; 6. Sopagna Eap, UC Davis, 22:18; 7. Katie Lee, CSUC, 22:20; 8. Ashlee Vincent, WWU, 22:21; 9. Shannon O'Connor, SFSU, 22:31; 10. Laura Cherdack, UC Davis, 22:37... 17. Ann Glenn, 22:56; 21. Michelle Solone, 23:05; 32. Priscilla Moreno, 23:19; 50. Kelsey Kaiser, 23:54; 56. Jessica Neu, 23:59.

 

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