By
Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA men nearly bring down Cardinal; women run third at Regionals
Behind strong individual and team performances this past weekend at the NCAA West Regionals, both the UA men's and women's cross country teams will head to Iowa for the NCAA National Championship race.
Led by junior Tom Prindiville - who finished in third place overall - the men's team placed second overall and received the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, which will take place on Nov. 20 in Ames, Iowa.
Prior to the race, Prindiville said that the Wildcats were a better team than Oregon, a team that defeated the Wildcats by just four points last weekend at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships.
This past Saturday in Fresno, Calif., the Wildcats did more than just beat Oregon - UA came close to finishing tops in the West. Stanford and individual champion Jonathon Riley managed to eke out a four-point victory against the Wildcats.
"With a half a mile left in the race, we had it won," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "I am very pleased that we challenged Stanford."
Prindiville said Arizona's showing was the Wildcats' toughest of the year.
"The team is starting to see what we're capable of," he said.
The UA women, limited to three runners due to illness, managed a third-place finish and will likely receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
"I was a little worried with the women's team," Murray said. "With sickness and injuries, we had about three healthy runners, but I am very, very pleased with the way they ran."
Despite battling the flu, junior Tara Chaplin finished eighth overall, while another junior, Jennifer Burris, ran the best race of her season and finished 15th overall.
Burris was impressed with her individual performance and the team's performance.
"The team did well under the circumstances," Burris said. "I felt I had a really good race; one of my best races."
Murray said he was "very impressed" with the performance of Burris.
"Jennifer really came up front," Murray said. "We would have been in real trouble without her."
Both teams will now set their sights on the National Championship next week at Iowa State.
"We're just going to let the gun go off and see what happens," Murray said. "Both teams have a good shot at the top-10, the men are showing they are capable of finishing top five."
