By
Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona hoping for automatic bid to NCAA championships
The Arizona men's and women's cross-country teams head to the West Regional Championships tomorrow in search of a bid to the NCAA National Championship race.
UA head coach Dave Murray feels confident that Arizona will do well in the tough west region. The race is going to be held at Woodland Park in Fresno, Calif.
"The race will be similar to the Pac-10 championships," Murray said.
The west regional is a notoriously tough region loaded with ranked teams, many from the Pac-10.
The biggest challenge for the Wildcats is Stanford. Both the Cardinal men's and women's teams are ranked No. 2 in the country and won the Pacific 10 Conference championships this season.
In addition to Stanford, UA will be pushed by strong squads from Arizona State, Oregon, and Washington.
Competing for Arizona are seniors David Lopez and Rick Weis, juniors Mike Cramer, Prindiville and Steve Smith and freshmen Andrew Carlson and Matt McInvale.
The No. 12 Arizona men are coming off a third place finish at the Pac-10 championships. UA placed four runners in the top 13 and was lead by junior Tom Prindiville, who finished in a career-high fifth-place. The Wildcats finished just four points behind No. 10 Oregon.
"We are a better team than Oregon," Prindiville said. "They just kinda snuck up on us."
Prindiville said the team is confident it will do well and, hopefully, qualify for the NCAA championships.
The No. 7 UA women's team is led by junior Tara Chaplin, who won the Pac-10 title in Seattle two weeks ago. The women are also coming off a third-place team finish at the Pac-10 championships.
The women's team faces a tougher challenge than the men's team, as they have to race against three teams ranked in the top-10 - No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Arizona State and No. 9 Washington.
Along with Chaplin, senior Katrin Engelen, juniors Erin Doherty and Jennifer Burris, sophomores Kimberly Bates and Nicole Gurnic, and freshman Beth Hoge will race for the Wildcats.
"We have a shot at the automatic bid," Murry said. "There is no question, if we place third to sixth on either side - men's or women's - that we have a shot at being selected to the national championship because of our tough region."
Qualifying for the NCAA Cross-Country National Championships is similar to qualifying for the NCAA basketball tournament. The top two teams from each regional final will automatically qualify for the national championships. And, large bids are given to teams by the NCAA.
