The Arizona women’s and men’s cross country squads will head to Seattle on Friday for the NCAA West Regionals. The women’s race will begin at noon, while the men’s race will begin at 1:15 p.m.

“We want to be competitive and make a serious attempt at winning,” head coach James Li said in a press release. “This is like a preliminary run for the NCAA Championships, the fundamental goal is to go there and run well enough to make it to the next round. I think that is exactly what we are going to do on the women’s side. For the men, I would like to see them really compete and do well and we’ll see what happens.”

Arizona will compete against as many as nine Pac-12 schools as well as some outside the conference, such as Boise State and Portland.

The Wildcat women seek to back up their reputation as the newly dubbed No.2-ranked team in the country.

Arizona will lean heavily on the 17 returning runners from last season, including All-American selection Jen Bergman, who returns to lead the Wildcats in her senior season.

The team looks to improve on its success from last season’s western regionals and to take the title this season, as it came out as runner-up in the previous two years.

For the men, reigning Pac-12 champion Lawi Lalang will compete with senior teammate Stephen Sambu.

The Wildcats will try to improve their rank from No. 7 in the polls with a good showing in Seattle.

Lineup for the Wildcat Women XC:

Jen Bergman (Sr.), Elizabeth Apgar (Sr.), Elvin Kibet (Jr.), Erin Menefee (Jr.), Amanda Russell (Jr.), Hannah Moen (Jr.), Nicci Corbin (So.), Stephanie Bulder (So.), and Clea Formas (So.)

Lineup for Wildcat Men XC:

Stephen Sambu (Sr.), Lawi Lalang (So.), Thomas Valente (So.),
Kenji Bierig (So.), Jonas Legernes (So.), Sam Macaluso (So.), and Nathan Kandie (Fr.)