WSU CROSS COUNTRY HOSTS ALUMNI "RUST-BUSTER" MEET
The Washington State men's and women's cross country teams open the 2018 season Aug. 31, with the WSU Alumni meet at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Wash...shorter distances to start the season and shake off the "rust" of summer training and accommodate more of the alumni runners...men's 6,000m race is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the women's 4,000m race set for 6 p.m...this is the site of the 2019 NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships and the 2015 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships...WSU trains there several times a week...results will be posted at wsucougars.com, when available. 

COUGARS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Washington State men's cross country team earned a No.13 ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Preseason poll published Aug. 28, 2018...This marks consecutive seasons that WSU men's cross country is ranked in the preseason top-13...last year's preseason ranking of 11th marked the first time WSU had been in the top-30 at the start of the season since 2012...only three other Pac-12 schools rank higher in the 2018 men's preseason poll: No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Oregon...the WSU men's team is ranked No. 4 in the USTFCCCA West Region preseason rankings, behind Stanford, Oregon, and Portland...WSU women's team is ranked ninth in the West Region in the Aug. 28 rankings...for complete men's and women's team national and regional rankings see pages 2 and 3 of this release.

COUGARS TO HOST 2019 NCAA WEST REGION XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Washington State will host the 2019 NCAA Cross Country West Regional Friday, Nov. 15, at the Colfax Golf Club at Colfax, Wash...this will mark the first time WSU will host an NCAA Cross Country Regional Championship...Cougars hosted the 2015 Pac-12 Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships at the Colfax Golf Club and practice on the course several times a week.

ABOUT THE 2018 COUGAR MEN
The 2018 Cougar men's cross country team, ranked 13th in the country, returns five of its seven members of the 2017 NCAA Championship-qualifying squad which finished 24th. Leading the way is senior Chandler Teigen who not only finished 63rd at the NCAA Championships, but was also was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Third Team with a 3.96 grade point average while majoring in biological systems engineering. His classmate, Kyler Little, was named to the second team with a 4.0 GPA while majoring in mathematics. Also returning after competing at the 2017 NCAA Championships are junior Justin Janke, senior Paul Ryan, senior Nathan Wadhwani and sophomore Matthew Watkins. Wadhwani finished 94th, Watkins 201st, Janke 206th and Ryan 232nd. Teigen, Ryan and Wadhwani have competed at the last three national meets. The men finished sixth at the Pac-12 Championships and seventh at the NCAA West Region Championships with their best-returning finishing being Teigen who placed 20th at the NCAA West Region Championships and a team-best ninth at Pac-12s.

ABOUT THE 2018 COUGAR WOMEN
Senior Vallery Korir made a huge impact in her first season with Cougar cross country in 2017. She clinched a spot at the NCAA Championships where she finished 33rd, becoming the fourth woman in WSU cross country history to earn All-America honors (top-40 individuals). Korir finished 19th at the NCAA West Region Championships to earn All-Region honors, as well as WSU's top finish by a woman at the Pac-12 Championships, coming in at 13th. The Cougars return three other scorers from the 2017 NCAA West Region Championships, including junior Melissa Hruska (106th), senior Josie Brown (113th) and junior Marie Gaudin (140th). WSU also returns two that competed at the West Region Championships as freshmen in 2017, sophomores Kiyena Beatty and Samantha King-Shaw. 

NEXT UP
The Cougars will host the Cougar Classic at the Colfax Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 14 with racing beginning at 5:15 p.m.