Cal Poly Cross Country will compete against some of the top competition in the country in Colfax, Washington, at the NCAA West Regionals this Friday, Nov. 15.
The race, hosted by Washington State, will take place at Colfax Golf Club. The women’s 6K will start at 11 a.m., followed by the men’s 10K at 12 p.m.
The Mustangs will battle multiple nationally ranked teams for a spot in this year’s NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
The men’s team will take on five ranked teams from the latest USTFCCCA coaches’ poll: No. 7 Stanford, No. 12 Washington, No. 15 Oregon, No. 16 CBU, and No. 25 Portland.
Meanwhile, the women will face No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Washington, No. 12 Stanford and No. 21 Gonzaga.
The Mustangs season up to Regionals
The Mustangs’ trip to the regionals comes on the heels of a dominant performance at the Big West Championships on Nov. 2, becoming the second school in conference history to sweep the conference on the men’s and women’s side three years in a row.
The team won individual titles, as graduate student Davis Bove and senior Schuyler Gooley won first-place finishes in their respective races.
Bove claimed his second straight conference title, becoming only the 10th runner in conference history.
“The goal is to make it to nationals,” Bove said. “The individual result doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, all that really matters is how the team did.”
Behind him, the Mustangs had standout performances from many runners, specifically sophomore Chris Caudillo and senior Colton Swinth, who placed second and third.
Other Mustangs who secured All-Big West honors by placing inside the top 10 at the UC Riverside Ag/Ops Course included redshirt freshman Rory Catsimanes (6th) and redshirt junior Michael Chambers (10th).
On the women’s side, three other runners claimed All-Big West honors besides Gooley.
Those runners included junior Tatiana Cornejo (6th), senior Hana Catsimanes (7th) and redshirt sophomore Sophia Nordenholz (8th).
Cornejo has been the women’s top runner this season, leading the Mustangs as their top finisher for the three races before the Big West Championships.
She was awarded the Big West Women’s Athlete of the Week on Oct. 22 after capturing first place at the Bronco Invitational.
How the Mustangs square up on Friday
Prior to the Big West Championships, the Mustangs competed against ranked teams at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Oct. 4 and the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 19.
The men placed fourth at the Lakefront Invitational, finishing behind three ranked teams: Wisconsin, Alabama and Butler, who are still ranked in the latest poll.
Similarly, the women placed 11th and raced three teams still ranked heading into regionals, in No. 7 Alabama, No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 17 NC State.
At Pre-Nationals, the Mustangs raced against two programs in the West Region – Stanford and Washington.
Most notably, Cal Poly (23rd) beat out Washington (24th), who will be racing at Colfax as the No. 12 team in the country.
Washington claims the second-highest ranking in the region heading into Friday’s race behind No. 7 Stanford.
Last Year’s Regional Race
Last year, the men and women claimed eighth place at the regional meet.
Caudillo and Swinth both recorded personal bests for the 10K, placing 80th and 88th, respectively.
Bove (8th) punched his ticket to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, while Cornejo (23rd) and senior Anthony Guerra (14th) earned All-West Region honors for finishing inside the top 25.
Bove will look to break history again this year, as his run was tied for the second-highest individual finish by a Mustang man at the West Regional in program history.
Five other men’s runners competed for the Mustangs, highlighted by senior Aidan McCarthy, who placed 52nd.
Cornejo and Gooley will both be racing at regionals for the third time. Gooley placed 28th last year and just missed out on regional honors.
The women had five more runners competing, four finishing in the top 100. Catsimanes will be competing in her fourth regional meet, having placed 41st last year.
Stanford swept the regionals in 2023, winning the men’s and women’s race.
Qualifying for Nationals
Nine regionals will take place across the country on Friday.
The top two teams from every region will secure an automatic bid to the National Championships, making 18 automatic qualifiers. After that, 13 at-large teams will get a bid to fill a 31-team field.
Individually, the first four finishers who are not on an automatic qualifier or an at-large team automatically advance to the NCAA championship, making 36 individual automatic qualifiers across all regions. Two at-large individual bids are also given out.
“I have full belief in our team and our coach,” Bove said. “We all have each other’s backs. And we’re good at running, so let’s just do that.”
The NCAA West Regional will not be streamed on any platforms, but live updates will be available here.