Meet Four
2021 WAC Championships
Saturday, Oct. 30 | UC Riverside Ag Ops Course | Riverside, Calif.
Men's Race (eight-kilometer) • 10:00 a.m. MT | Women's Race (six-kilometer) • 11:00 a.m. MT
Watch | Live Results | WAC Pre-Championsip Cross Country Coaches' Polls | USTFCCCA Regional and National Rankings
THE STARTING LINE
• All 13 Western Athletic Conference men's and women's cross country teams are set to descend upon Riverside, Calif., where they'll battle for league supremacy at the WAC Cross Country Championships Saturday morning.
• The UC Riverside Ag Ops Course serves as the race venue with the men's eight-kilometer championship race beginning at 10:00 a.m. MT. The women's six-kilometer race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. MT.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app will broadcast both the men's and women's championship races with Braiden Bell, Matt Farmer and Eric Danner handling in-race commentary.
MEN'S PREVIEW
• Over the course of the last half-decade, the Aggies have posted finishes of sixth (spring 2021), fourth (2019), seventh (2018), third (2017) and fifth (2016) at the WAC Championship meet.
• NM State was picked to finish 10th of the 13 teams in contention for the league title at the UC Riverside Ag Ops Course. That was made public when the WAC released its Pre-Championship Men's Cross Country Coaches' Poll Wednesday morning.
• Through they finished 16th out of 25 teams at the Highlander Invitational two weeks ago, the Aggies' placing may not have been indicative of their actual performance. A mass fall which affected numerous runners for NM State and other teams in the early portion of the eight-kilometer race on Saturday, Oct. 16, left the Aggies scrambling to move up the pack for a good portion of the race.
• Last season, Anekin Hetman was NM State's top finisher at the WAC Championships. In the spring 2021 championship meet, Hetman covered the course in a time of 25:24.80 - good for 17th-place. Kayn Quinones (26th, 25:59.20) was the team's only other top-30 finisher. Hetman has already better his eight-kilometer time from the spring 2021 championship meet on two occasions this fall.
• Hetman is one of nine Aggies who will be competing Saturday morning. Alongside him will be Pedro Espinoza, Matt Goddard, Jacob Grosch, Anthony Molina, Nick Ortiz, Dilan Sanchez, Cole Shugart and Micah Too.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
• Ranked 13th in the latest edition of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region Rankings, the Aggies are going in search of their first WAC title since 2017.
• NM State produced a third-place finish at the spring 2021 WAC Championships and was led in part by Emily Stutesman. An All-WAC Second Team performer by way of an 11th-place finish in that meet, Stutesman is expected to be one of the Aggies' top finishers in Riverside this weekend.
• In the Pre-Championship Women's Cross Country Coaches' Poll, NM State was tabbed for a fourth-place finish by the league's head coaches. California Baptist, Abilene Christian and Utah Valley were picked first, second and third respectively.
• NM State is coming off of a great performance at the Highlander Invitational two weeks ago. The Aggies finished third overall among the 25 competing teams and were led by Stutesman (21:01.9) who placed 12th among the 262-woman field.
• The Aggies are peaking at the right time, too, as five of the team's runners posted six-kilometer personal bests at the Highlander Invitational back on Saturday, Oct. 16. Thobile Amon, Gibbs, Kayle O'Connell, Mia Regan and Stutesman all reset their best times in a six-kilometer race at that event and are hoping to do so again Saturday morning.
• Three other Aggies - Maggie Gibbs (17th, 21:11.1), Richelle Sandin (19th, 21:19.3) and Thobile Amon (21st, 21:25.8) - placed among the top 25 finishers to lead the way for NM State.
• NM State has posted top-four finishes in each of the last five WAC Championship meets.
• The Aggies are one of four WAC teams who are currently ranked in the USTFCCCA Regional Rankings. Also ranked in the Mountain Region is Utah Valley (ninth) while Abilene Christian (second) and California Baptist (ninth) appear in the South Central Region and West Region rankings respectively.
• Saturday's meet marks the Aggies' second in a row at the UC Riverside Ag Ops Course. NM State raced on that course during its third-place finish at the Highlander Invitational.
COMING UP NEXT
• Provo, Utah, is the Aggies' next destination as both the NM State men's and women's cross country teams will take part in the NCAA Mountain Regional meet. That meet, which will be hosted by BYU at Timpanogos Golf Club, gets underway Friday, Nov. 12. The women's six-kilometer race begins at 11:00 a.m. that day while the men's eight-kilometer race starts at noon.
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