NCAA West Regional
Cross Country Heads to Washington for NCAA West Regional
11/14/2024 12:00:00 PM | Cross Country
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Riding high after sweeping the Big West titles for the third straight year, the Cal Poly men’s and women’s cross country teams are ready and eager to compete in the NCAA West Regional hosted by Washington State on Friday in Colfax, Washington.
Action at the Colfax Golf Club starts at 11 a.m. Friday with the women’s 6K followed by the men’s 10K at noon. You can follow the live results here. There is no livestream for the meet.
Cal Poly is fresh off making history at the conference meet, becoming the first Big West school since 1989-91 and just the second ever to claim three consecutive conference titles on both the men’s and women’s side.
The Cal Poly men had a dominate performance sweeping the top three places, led by graduate student Davis Bove placing first, sophomore Chris Caudillo second, and senior Colton Swinth third. The Mustangs finished with an impressive team score of 22 points, 51 points in front of runner-up Cal State Fullerton. Bove claimed his second straight Big West men’s individual title, becoming the first repeat Big West champion on the men’s side since Cal Poly’s Jake Ritter in 2018-19 and the 10th in conference history.
The Mustang women also cruised to the conference title. Schuyler Gooley led the way with an exceptional race finishing first individually with a personal best 6K time of 19:47.7. With four runners in the top 10 individually, the women’s team scored only 33 points, tied for their second-best score in school history at the Big West Championships.
With their momentum and confidence high, both teams are looking to continue their success this season at the NCAA West Regional. Cal Poly will be sending its top seven runners on both the men’s and women’s side to Washington.
A strong performance at regionals could qualify the Cal Poly men’s and women’s teams for the NCAA Championships, which are slated for Saturday, Nov. 23 at Wisconsin’s Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The West Regional is one of nine regional meets that will be held around the country on Friday, with team and individual berths up for grabs. In order to secure an automatic berth to nationals, Cal Poly and the rest of the teams around the country will need to place in the top two in their respective region. With 18 total auto bids available across the nine regional meets, the remaining 13 spots for rest of the 31-team field on the men's and women's sides will be selected by the NCAA. Performance at regionals along with results throughout the season will play an important role in the selection of the at-large teams, making the third and fourth place finishing squads at each regional meet the most likely at-large candidates.
Individually, the top four finishers in each regional who do not belong to an automatic qualifying or at-large team will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships provided they finish in the top 25 in their respective regional. Those 36 individual automatic qualifiers will be joined by two at-large selections for a grand total of 38.
Last year, Bove qualified and competed at nationals, earning an individual berth to the NCAA Championships by placing eighth at the NCAA West Regional to secure his spot on the national stage.
The Mustangs are focused heading into Friday’s meet, and are hoping to make history yet again and bolster their status as top contenders in collegiate cross country.
Next stop: The PNW ???
— Cal Poly TF/XC (@CalPolyTrack_XC) November 13, 2024
The Stangs head to Colfax this week to compete in the NCAA West Regional hosted by Washington State ??#RideHigh???? pic.twitter.com/QTyzzNGSAi
