The week before the NCAA Regional Championships didn’t go as planned for the Long Beach State men’s and women’s cross country team, but the final results in the end-of-the-year race were more than respectable.
Both the men’s and women’s team finished in 12th place in the NCAA Regionals in Portland, Ore. The 12th place finish this year, plus the 10th place finish by both teams in 2005, equals the best consecutive years ever for the LBSU cross country program.
Jenessa Botello led the way for the women, finishing in 30th place (22:18.89).
“Jenessa ran the best race I have ever seen her run,” said third-year Distance Coach Matt Roe to the Long Beach State Sports Information Department. “She ran completely out of her head…it was an absolutely inspired effort and I was very impressed with her performance.”
The men’s No. 1 runner, Wolhan Ovalle, paced the LBSU men, finishing in 32nd place (31:13.06).
“Wolhan Ovalle is a very talented athlete and I knew he had it in him to run an amazing race today,” said Roe. “He ran a very tough race and just ran hard the whole way.”
Ovalle and Botello just missed out on earning All-Region honors, which are rewarded to those who finish in the top-25 in each race.
The success on the course was a nice end to a rough week for the cross country teams.
Cross country runners Nicole Blalock and Justin Burton were suspended by the team from the NCAA Regional Championships after the two were arrested on campus on Nov. 4. The charges in the case have been dropped.
The women’s team was also without its No. 1 runner, Meredith Kramon, who dropped out of the race Saturday.
“It has been a difficult time this past week for our program,” Roe said. “I am extremely proud of the people who finished the race today. They just ran with so much passion and it was really redemptive for our program.”
Oregon won the 10K men’s race and Stanford was victorious in the 6K women’s race.