The Arizona women’s cross country team finished sixth of 10 teams while the men’s squad finished dead last in eighth Saturday at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships in Corvallis, Ore.

“”The men did very poorly, while the ladies did very well,”” UA head coach James Li said. “”But as a team, I thought that we could’ve done better running-wise, and we have the potential to do better.””

“”But this is the toughest conference in the nation, the top four (women’s) teams are in the top 10 nationally,”” he added.

The women placed sixth with 188 points in the 6-kilometer event and were paced by junior Irine Lagat, who finished 19th in 20:44.

“”(As a team) I thought we’d do better, but it wasn’t bad overall,”” she said. “”And I thought I did good, but I feel like I can do better in the (West) Regionals.””

As they had all season, junior Marissa Urban and freshman Maggie Callahan, finished right behind Lagat, placing 29th in 21:03 and 38th in 21:22.

Sophomore Shelly Splittberger (44th, 21:32) and senior Angelina Cabrera (58th, 22:05) also scored for Arizona.

Li was happy with the women’s performance and said that they had placed about where he had expected them to.

The men, on the other hand, tallied 260 points, 94 points higher than seventh-place Washington State. In fact, Arizona’s top finisher – sophomore Dylan Fitzpatrick, who paced the squad by finishing the 8-kilometer race 50th in 24:41 – did not even run a time better than the top six runners of any other squad.

Sophomore Carlos Rybeck (51st, 24:45.0), junior Lou Maturo (52nd, 24:45.8), freshman Reed Blochberger (53rd, 24:56.7) and freshman Victor Zazueta (54th, 25:09.7) also recorded points for Arizona.

“”We needed to come and compete better,”” Li said. “”We’re young, but I would’ve liked to have seen some higher finishes, even though it really wouldn’t have affected the team placing.””