Cross Country Prepares for NCAA Mountain Regional. - IDAHO STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Nov. 12, 2009

ABOUT THE NCAA MOUNTAIN REGIONAL
The men and women of Idaho State University will travel to Albuquerque, N. M., for the NCAA Mountain Regional Saturday, Nov. 14. The men's 10K race will begin 10:45 a.m. and the women's 6K will begin at noon. The event will be hosted by the New Mexico Lobos at the UNM North Golf Course, located 5,085 feet above sea level. Team and individual bids to the NCAA Championship meet will be up for grabs with the top two teams automatically qualifying as well as the first four individuals not on qualifying teams.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BENGAL MEN
The ISU men finished seventh at the Big Sky Conference Championship. Senior John Ricardi finished first for the Bengals and 28th overall running a 27:03.3. Sophomore Keane Shuler finished 33rd with a time of 27:23.2 while junior Zac Barrett placed 34th (27:32.3). Junior Mike Tucker finished 43rd (28:06.6) and freshman Bryce Jenkins rounded out the top five finishing 45th (28:14.5). The team combined for 176 points.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BENGAL WOMEN
The Bengal women took fifth at the Big Sky Conference Championship with 120 points. Junior Erica Wendt-Richardson paced ISU finishing 13th with a time of 20:23.8. Sophomore Bradi Hutchison placed 17th with a time of 20:30.7 while senior Kerynn Davis finished 22nd with a time of 20:49.0. Senior Gemma Maini took 32nd (21:27.1) and freshman Chloe Palakovich finished 36th (21:33.9).

COACH JANSSEN ON THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
"I think we are hoping to improve over our conference performances," ISU Head Coach Brian Janssen said. "The conference championship was a difficult trip and I think we want to try to finish on a high note to lead us into indoor track and field season. We were a little disappointed with things throughout the cross country season that we just couldn't control, so this weekend we're running for pride and hoping to defeat some teams we should have run better against early this season and hopefully some of the Mountain West teams that we will see for the first time."