PROVO — Cross country teams from the Big 5 universities will converge on Provo today to fight for a bid to the NCAA championships later this month.
BYU will host the NCAA Mountain Regional at East Bay Golf Course, where the men's teams will run the 10K at 11 a.m. and the women's teams will run the 6K at noon. Admission to the race is free.
The top two teams will automatically qualify for the NCAA meet on Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind., but considering the top-shelf level of talent, that could be a tall order.
The 16-team men's field will include six ranked teams, including No. 3 Colorado, the defending national champion. The women's field of 18 teams includes four ranked teams, including No. 10 Colorado, also the defending national champion.
Most eyes will be on BYU, fresh off a sweep of the MWC championships where the women won their 18th title in a row and the men won their eighth in nine years. The men are ranked No. 6, the women No. 7.
Teams will run seven runners, with the top five places contributing to the team's score. BYU women's coach Patrick Shane, who expects a tough duel with Colorado, said the team with the greatest depth will win.
"It's going to come down to who can have five people get the job done on Saturday," he said. "We certainly have more depth than (the Buffaloes) have shown this year, but it only takes five, and they've got some people on their roster who, in the past, have run very, very well. I think it's a toss-up and going to be a great match-up."
The Cougar women have been led by BYU-Hawaii transfer Chelsea Smith-McKell, a senior who has led the team in four of six races this year, and sophomore Heidi Magill, the Mountain West runner of the year.
The BYU men have received unquestioned leadership from junior Josh Rohatinsky, who led the Cougars in all four races in which he competed this year, winning three of them. He has been followed closely by sophomores Dustin Bybee and Chandler Goodwin.
BYU will not be the only local team in contention, however. Weber State, which finished second in last week's Big Sky championships to Northern Arizona, brings ranked teams to the meet. The women are No. 37 nationally, while the men are 38th.
The teams were mildly disappointed by the finish last week, but coaches say they are ready for a strong showing at today's meet.
"I think as a team we will bounce back and perform better than we did at the Big Sky Conference meet," Weber State men's coach Chick Hislop said in a release. "Individually, both Seth Pilkington and Brett Ferrier have a possibility of qualifying."
For the Wildcat women, freshman phenom Katie Bowen will need to have another strong race. Bowen should receive a boost from a home crowd, as the race is near her home in Alpine.
Weber State will also depend on team leaders Lindsey Anderson and Sariah St. Laurent.
And while, on paper, Utah State and Southern Utah do not look as strong as some of the competition in this meet, both teams have had success at the Mountain Regional in the past.
The Utah State women took third in the race last year, and the SUU men won the race in 1999.