The Arizona men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA Division I West Regional Cross Country meet on Friday, Nov. 10. It was a 10k race, held in Sacramento, California, at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course. This was the most competitive race of the year for the Wildcats, with top cross-country teams from across the West Coast competing in the event. 

Men’s race

In the men’s race, the team finished in 15th place out of 29 teams, with a total score of 434. The top runner for the Wildcats was junior Ian Sanchez Lopez, who came in 43rd overall with a time of 30:09.3. This is his third race in a row he has finished first for the Wildcats. Similar to the last meet, freshman phenom Michael Urbanski was the second finisher for the Wildcats with a time of 30:38.9. Urbanski placed 66th overall, which is impressive considering this was his first collegiate 10k race. Noah Jodon and Brennan Foody came in 3rd and 4th place for the Wildcats. Jodon finished in 101st place with a time of 31:21.4, while Foody came in right behind him finishing in 103rd place with a time of 31:22.1. 

Women’s race

In the women’s race, the team did not finish in the spot they wanted, as they came in 28th out of 37 teams. Unsurprisingly, the top runner for the Wildcats was senior captain Sailor Hutton. Hutton came in with a time of 20:49.1, only 17 seconds short of a personal record. Sailor finished first for the Wildcats and placed 72nd overall. Hutton finishing first for the team was a great accomplishment, as she managed to be the top runner for the team at every event this year. Finishing second for the Wildcats was another senior runner, Alisa Lyesina. She came in 126th place with a time of 21.63.1. The promising freshman duo of Sorcha Shiu (22.06.4) and Sage Patzer (22.52.9) came in 3rd and 4th place respectively. 

Looking ahead

Tthis was the last meet of the season for both Arizona cross country teams. Neither team will be sending any runners to compete in the NCAA Cross Country National Championships. However, this will not be the last time many favorite fan-favorite Wildcat runners will be seen this season. Many of the runners will be competing for Arizona’s track and field team on Saturday, Dec. 9, for the Winter All-Comers Meet and Red-White-Blue Challenge at Drachman Stadium in Tucson.

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