TEMPE, Ariz. – The last three months of running and preparation have led the Arizona State cross country program to this week, as the Devils venture back to Sacramento, Calif. for the NCAA Regional Championship. The women's race will kick off the meet at 11 a.m. (PST) from the Haggin Oaks Golf Course, with the men's to follow at 12 p.m. (PST). Coverage will be provided by FloTrack.com.
What is considered the equivalent of the Southeastern Conference in football, the West Region in cross country is loaded with six of the top-20 men's teams and six of the top-30 women's programs.
"We are ranked 13th (men) and 14th (women) in the region -- we are a different team," said head coach Louie Quintana. "We were 24 points away from beating UCLA at the Pac-12 meet, which would make us seventh in our region. You just need to make sure that your athletes truly believe. I have a lot of meetings with our kids to make sure they comprehend that anything is a possibility at the meet. It doesn't matter exactly what you do two months before the meet, it matters how you perform the day of. The ball is in our court to make the choice whether today is the day you win or not."
At the Pac-12 Conference meet, the Sun Devil men captured the Territorial Cup® point with an eighth-place finish while the women finished in 10th. To provide context of the depth of the conference, seven of the programs that finished ahead of the women are in the national top-30 or are receiving votes along with six of the seven in front of the men.
The men continue to be led by redshirt senior CJ Albertson, who crossed the line in 25th in Tucson two weeks ago.
"CJ's focus is completely different than what we want him to do on the team," said Quintana. "CJ is trying to get the national championships, so he is doing what he can to get there. Each of our guys needs to just run their race. If you find each other, run together. Overall, we execute the strategy that makes us the most confident. We have some different race plans, but at the end of the day they will probably find each other pretty quick."
At the conference meet, both the men and women's teams got out a little slower than Quintana would have liked, putting both in a tougher spot to pick off enough runners down the stretch. He would like to see both team's get up further off the start to create a better scenario mentally and physically.
CJ passed a total of 43 runners from start to finish over the 8K event, and made it look easy.
For the women, CJ's wife Chelsey Albertson continues to show her veteran leadership with a young, inexperienced group. Her 36th place finish may also be slightly misleading, as she started towards the back of the pack as well before picking several runners off down the stretch. She also has the mindset to make it to the national championships with her other half.
"The women are ready to execute, be competitive and go out and have fun," said Quintana. "The core of our women are good, and as we continue to improve as a team, we will be great. It is important for our women to always have the concept and expectation that we can make it. Our region is deep with six, seven or eight teams who will possibly make it, but if we are on our game then we could make the national meet. The higher up we are, the better we will be."
Over his past 13 seasons as head coach, Quintana says he's seen crazy turnarounds and unexpected teams earn a bid to the NCAA Championships. The top two teams at each regional earn automatic bids – for a total of 18 – followed by 13 at-large bids for a total of 31.
The process for selection involves a review of regular-season competition and finish at the regional championships. Regional finish is the first criterion, for example, a fourth-place team may not be selected for an at-large berth ahead of a third-place team from the same region. But, a team with a fourth-place finish, for example, could "push" both the third- and fourth-place finishing team into the championships if the fourth-place team has enough "wins" to be the next at-large team. Wins from the regular-season are only counted if squads beat another's "A" team, defined by having competed four or more individuals in that regular-season meet that competed at the regional championships. Official designations of "A" and "B" teams can only be accomplished after the results of the NCAA regional meets have been completed. Also, only competitions starting September 26 through regional meet weekend are included in the analysis.
An additional 38 individuals per gender will qualify for the national championships, as the runner must be from a team not selected in the above process and within the top 25 of the regional meet. Two additional runners will be at-large selections.
Live results for the meet can be found here.
What is considered the equivalent of the Southeastern Conference in football, the West Region in cross country is loaded with six of the top-20 men's teams and six of the top-30 women's programs.
"We are ranked 13th (men) and 14th (women) in the region -- we are a different team," said head coach Louie Quintana. "We were 24 points away from beating UCLA at the Pac-12 meet, which would make us seventh in our region. You just need to make sure that your athletes truly believe. I have a lot of meetings with our kids to make sure they comprehend that anything is a possibility at the meet. It doesn't matter exactly what you do two months before the meet, it matters how you perform the day of. The ball is in our court to make the choice whether today is the day you win or not."
At the Pac-12 Conference meet, the Sun Devil men captured the Territorial Cup® point with an eighth-place finish while the women finished in 10th. To provide context of the depth of the conference, seven of the programs that finished ahead of the women are in the national top-30 or are receiving votes along with six of the seven in front of the men.
The men continue to be led by redshirt senior CJ Albertson, who crossed the line in 25th in Tucson two weeks ago.
"CJ's focus is completely different than what we want him to do on the team," said Quintana. "CJ is trying to get the national championships, so he is doing what he can to get there. Each of our guys needs to just run their race. If you find each other, run together. Overall, we execute the strategy that makes us the most confident. We have some different race plans, but at the end of the day they will probably find each other pretty quick."
At the conference meet, both the men and women's teams got out a little slower than Quintana would have liked, putting both in a tougher spot to pick off enough runners down the stretch. He would like to see both team's get up further off the start to create a better scenario mentally and physically.
CJ passed a total of 43 runners from start to finish over the 8K event, and made it look easy.
For the women, CJ's wife Chelsey Albertson continues to show her veteran leadership with a young, inexperienced group. Her 36th place finish may also be slightly misleading, as she started towards the back of the pack as well before picking several runners off down the stretch. She also has the mindset to make it to the national championships with her other half.
"The women are ready to execute, be competitive and go out and have fun," said Quintana. "The core of our women are good, and as we continue to improve as a team, we will be great. It is important for our women to always have the concept and expectation that we can make it. Our region is deep with six, seven or eight teams who will possibly make it, but if we are on our game then we could make the national meet. The higher up we are, the better we will be."
Over his past 13 seasons as head coach, Quintana says he's seen crazy turnarounds and unexpected teams earn a bid to the NCAA Championships. The top two teams at each regional earn automatic bids – for a total of 18 – followed by 13 at-large bids for a total of 31.
The process for selection involves a review of regular-season competition and finish at the regional championships. Regional finish is the first criterion, for example, a fourth-place team may not be selected for an at-large berth ahead of a third-place team from the same region. But, a team with a fourth-place finish, for example, could "push" both the third- and fourth-place finishing team into the championships if the fourth-place team has enough "wins" to be the next at-large team. Wins from the regular-season are only counted if squads beat another's "A" team, defined by having competed four or more individuals in that regular-season meet that competed at the regional championships. Official designations of "A" and "B" teams can only be accomplished after the results of the NCAA regional meets have been completed. Also, only competitions starting September 26 through regional meet weekend are included in the analysis.
An additional 38 individuals per gender will qualify for the national championships, as the runner must be from a team not selected in the above process and within the top 25 of the regional meet. Two additional runners will be at-large selections.
Live results for the meet can be found here.