PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State men's and women's cross country teams get set to travel to Sacramento for the 2023 NCAA West Regional at Haggin Oaks Golf Course.  The two teams will compete for two automatic team bids and four individual bids into the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships from Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.

The last time out, Washington State men's cross country team had a pair of runners place in the top-30 and finished sixth in the overall team scoring, and the women's team tallied a ninth-place team finish at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships from Chambers Creek Regional Park.

Meet Info:
>> Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 10, 2023  |  Women's 6K: 10 a.m., Men's 8k: 11 a.m.
>> Location/Venue: Sacramento, Calif.  |  Haggin Oaks Golf Course
>> 2023 WSU Results
>> Live Results

Men's Preview
Brian Barsaiya turned in his fastest 8k of the season to finish 23rd overall, leading the way for the Cougars at the Pac-12 Championships from Chambers Creek Regional Park.  Kelvin Limo finished only five spots behind his teammate with a life-time best 8k finish at 23:48.1, and the men's team placed sixth overall in this year's conference championships with a scoring finish of 23-28--31-39-47.  The pair will lead a men's team that came in at No. 11 in the most recent USTFCCCA NCAA DI West Region rankings.

The Cougar men placed 18th as a team at last month's NCAA Pre-Nationals at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va., which followed a 10th-place finish in the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational.  Leif Swanson, the third Cougar runner to break the 24-minute mark in 8k races this season, will join Kyle Ortega-Gammill, Aiden Emerson, Grayson Wilcott, and Jacob Easton, on the Cougs' 2023 regional travel roster.

Women's Preview
After battling a challenging fall filled with injuries and lineup changes, Washington State's women's squad, the 13th-ranked squad heading into this season's region meet, will finally return to full health.

Caroline Jerotich clocked her fastest 6k time of the season to lead the way for the Cougar women at last month's Pac-12 Championships, placing 33rd overall in 20:23.0.  Alaina Stone Boggs, running only her second meet of the fall, improved on her season debut by almost a full minute to finish 51st overall in 20:53.9.

Cristina Molteni will look to return to her early-season form following a brief break from the competition lineup, while Neema Kimtai, Nicole Bissell, Maya Nichols, and Jaylyn Lehner, also prepare to make the trip to represent the Cougars in Sacramento.

NCAA XC Regional Qualifying Standards
Once the regionals have concluded, the top two teams in each regional — there are nine in total — automatically qualify for the championships, which equates to 18 automatic qualifiers. In other words, it's the safest route to qualification. The NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee will then choose 13 at-large teams to fill out the 31 team field. 
At-large teams selections are based firstly on their performance at regionals, making the third- and fourth-place teams the most likely candidates.

Regular and postseason (up until the championships) results combine to create a detailed resume of a team's performance throughout the season, and that resume is also looked over by the subcommittee to determine at-large championship selections. The amount of regular season points and specifically the wins against teams that have already qualified or been selected to the national championships really matter here.