Cross Country Teams To Compete At Big West Championships

Mike Nielson will lead Utah State's 28th-ranked men's cross country team, while the USU women feature a balanced team when the Aggies head to Riverside, Calif. to compete in the annual Big West Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2.


The Aggie men were the preseason favorite to win the conference title with five first place votes from the league coaches. Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara each received two first-place votes. UCSB is the defending team champion.

All three of those teams are ranked in the latest regional polls as Utah State is seventh in the Mountain region and Cal Poly is fifth and UC Santa Barbara is eighth in the West Region. The Aggies are ranked 28th in the Mondo National Poll.

The USU men have finished first or second at the league championships in eight of the last nine years with titles in 1992-94 and runner-up placings every year since with the exception of 1999 when the Aggies ended up in fourth.

USU's men have been paced by junior Mike Nielson, who has been the Aggies' top finisher in three of four races this season and has earned Big West Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors twice this year.

Nielson, who is from Bellevue, Wash., started the year finishing as the runner-up by just one second at the Idaho State Opener. He then placed sixth at the UC Riverside Invitational, 15th at the Notre Dame Invitational and 21st at the Pre-Nationals.

Teammate Mitch Zundel has helped provide a one-two punch for the Aggies as he was the team's leader at Riverside finishing fifth after placing fourth at Idaho State. In the last two meets the senior from Brigham City, Utah placed 18th at Notre Dame and 28th at the Pre-Nationals.

Senior Steve Prescott and freshman Clark Bryner have also been consistent runners for coach Gregg Gensel's team this season. Prescott finished 14th and ninth in the first two meets respectively while Bryner was 20th and 14th. Both runners were USU's third and fourth runners respectively at the Pre-Nationals on Oct. 19.

On the women's side Cal Poly is the two-time defending champion, but UC Irvine (sixth), Idaho (seventh) and UC Santa Barbara (ninth) are the only league schools ranked in the West Region.

USU's women, who have finished in the top four of the Big West Championships in six of the last seven years, were picked fourth in the league's preseason poll.

Three different individuals have been USU's top finisher in the first four races as sophomore Lida Clapier led USU at UC Riverside and Notre Dame, while junior Christi Howell was the top Aggie at Idaho State and junior Audrey Golightly was the top finisher at the Pre-Nationals.

The Aggie women won the UC Riverside Invitational on this same course in late September as Clapier finished fourth, Golightly eighth and Carol Cabanillas 10th. USU finished with 70 points, while UC Santa Barbara was third at 77, UC Irvine fifth with 116, Cal Poly eighth with 222, Cal State Fullerton ninth at 237, Long Beach State 11th at 288 and UC Riverside 14th at 334.

The women's championship race, set at 5,000-meters, will begin at 9:30 a.m. mountain time while the men will run 8,000-meters at 10:45 a.m. mountain.