SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The best cross country runners in the Western United States will descend on Sacramento for the 2023 NCAA Div. I Cross Country West Regional on Friday morning. The meet will be held at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course located at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. The women's 6K race will start at 10 a.m. and will be followed by the men's 10K race at 11 a.m.

Admission to the meet is free but there will be a $15 parking fee per vehicle. Cash or PayPal will be accepted for parking. All spectators, media and teams need to enter the facility through the Sacramento Softball Complex (3450 Longview Dr, Sacramento, CA 95821). No race parking will be allowed at Haggin Oaks Golf Course.

Stanford enters the meet as the top ranked women's team in the West Region. The Cardinal finished second at the Pac-12 Championships behind Washington which is ranked second. Fellow Pac-12 schools Oregon and Oregon State are ranked third and fourth in the region while California Baptist completes the top five.

Many of the same teams appear in the top five of the men's West Region rankings. California Baptist is ranked first after a win at the WAC Championships. Stanford, Washington and Oregon are ranked second through fourth, respectively, after claiming the top three spots at the Pac-12 Championships. Boise State is ranked fifth in the region this week.

There are 39 women's teams and 31 men's teams entered into the West Regional. The top two teams in each of the nine regionals secure automatic bids to the championship. The first four regional finishers not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team also secure an auto-bid to the championships. If a team doesn't secure an automatic bid, it will have to rely on the NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee to select it as one of the 13 at-large teams. Only two individual at-larges are selected.

Each team can have a maximum of seven entries in each race with the top five finishers counting towards the team total.

Sacramento State most recently competed at the Big Sky Championships on Oct. 27 in Missoula, Mont. Molly Latincsics and Dani Gee have been the top two finishers for the Hornet women in all five of the meets this season. Latincsics placed 20th at the Big Sky Championships and had her season highlighted by a win at the Pacific Invitational in September.

The Sacramento State men were guided by Aiden Maddison at the Big Sky Championship. Maddison has had the top time for the team in four of the five meets this year.

This year marks the fifth time that the NCAA West Regional will be run at the Arcade Creek Course. The most recent occasion came in 2021 when Stanford claimed the men's and women's team titles. The course has also hosted the 2019 NCAA Div. II Championships, the 2018 Big Sky Championships and six Capital Cross Challenges.

2023 NCAA DIV. I CROSS COUNTRY WEST REGIONAL
Teams:
Arizona, Boise State, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, California, CBU, CSU Bakersfield (w), CSUN, Eastern Washington, Fresno State (w), Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Hawaii (w), Idaho, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Oregon, Oregon State (w), Pacific (w), Pepperdine, Portland, Portland State, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Diego State (w), San Francisco, Santa Clara, SeattleU, Stanford, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, UNLV (w), USC (w), Washington, Washington State

Sacramento State Entries
Women:
Ashley Busienei, Sophia Dudley, Dani Gee, Molly Latincsics, Meg Moyer, Kaleena Narus, Tia Oliver, Kate Sanders, Viviana Valenton.

Men:
Paden Collard, Kelly Galicia-Thomas, Cooper Love, Aiden Maddison, Ryan Martin, Brandon Moreno, Jake Slade.