UA cross country teams shoot for nationals at regional finals

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat From left to right, senior Virginia Camacho, junior Amy Skieresz and sophomore Maia Wright run laps yesterday to prepare for tomorrow's Western Regional Championships.

For the UA men's and women's cross country teams, tomorrow's Western Regional Championships is the last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 24 in Greenville, S.C.

The Wildcats have one edge over the other teams in that they host the meet, which begins with the men's 10,000-meter race at 9:30 a.m. and end with the women's 5,000-meter race at 10:45 at the Dell Urich golf course, located at 22nd St. and Randolph Way.

"We're going to have to place second or third to qualify," UA head coach Dave Murray said.

The top two teams automatically qualify to go the NCAA's and Murray said that he feels the third place team out of the region, rated as the strongest in the nation, will get one of the four at-large bids.

"We have a definite shot," junior Amy Skieresz said. "It's going to be a lot of hard work. We'll have to put forth our best effort."

Skieresz has won her last 12 races, including last year's regional and last year's NCAA title.

Senior Virginia Camacho, senior Tone Bratteng, sophomore Kristen Parrish and freshman Katrin Engelen all need to finish strong if the Wildcats want to move on.

"We have the ability to do it," said Murray of the women's team. "The women haven't had a real consistent race all year."

On the men's side, the Wildcats are looking forward to the return of sophomore Micheil Jones, who missed the last two meets due to illness.

Leading the way for the men this year has been junior Abdi Abdirahman, who won the first two meets UA competed in this season. He came in seventh at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships two weeks ago.

"I think I'm going to do well," Abdirahman said. "We need this race. We could finish in the top three but I'd rather finish in the top two."

This is the Wildcats' only home meet of the season, something that Abdirahman called "a bonus" for the team.

"It's great," Skieresz said. "It's obviously really nice not to travel. We always get great support at home from all our families and friends."