The Arizona women’s cross country team placed 11th at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Springfield, Ore., failing to qualify for the NCAA Nationals for the second season in a row.

Still, UA head coach James Li was pleased with his team’s success this season.

“”We’re clearly making progress,”” Li said. “”We are planting positive seeds, and we are really set up for the future.””

As it had been all season, Arizona was paced by juniors Irine Lagat and Marissa Urban, who placed 47th (21:35) and 48th (21:35), respectively, and freshman Maggie Callahan, who finished 51st (21:39).

Angelina Cabrera (96th, 22:19) and Shelly Splittberger (113th, 22:34) also scored for Arizona.

“”We came up short for Nationals, but there are a lot of positives,”” Li said. “”Last year, we only had one runner finish in the top 40 and this year, we almost had three.

“”To put it in basketball terms, we are knocking on the door to the Big Dance.””

Li said his team was naturally disappointed but that the athletes need to look at the positives and build off of them.

For the men, only freshman Victor Zazueta and sophomore Dylan Fitzpatrick competed, finishing 66th (31:49) and 78th (32:09), respectively, in what Li called their best results of the year.

“”The guys ran a lot better,”” he said. “”I told them to make (Saturday) a positive, and that next year things expected to be better, and they competed with that in mind.

“”We are set up for a much better year.””