Humboldt State University Athletics

ARCATA — Championships season begins Saturday when Humboldt State hosts the California Collegiate Athletic Association meet at McKinleyville's Beau Pre Golf Course. Nineteen schools will be represented in the event, which begins with the women's 6K race at 9 a.m. and is followed by the men's 8K race at 9:45 a.m.

Meet Information
Beau Pre Golf Course has been the site of numerous championship events, including the 1990 and 1996 NCAA Division II West Region Championships, along with the NCAA Division II Championships those same two seasons. The last time the course was used for a postseason event was in 2004 when Humboldt State hosted the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. …Each school can enter 10 runners in a race, with the top seven finishers impacting the team finish. As with all cross country races, the top five finishers on a team score points and the next two act as "bumpers" that can decrease an opponent's score. …The top 15 finishers are awarded all-conference status.

The Course
A very fair course from nearly all runners' perspectives, the Beau Pre venue features a gradual uphill and one steeper uphill run once in the women's event and twice in the men's. Nearly all of the surface is grass on the golf course fairways and rough. …The start and finish areas are in close proximity to three other places where the runners will pass, offering spectator-friendly viewing locations.

Competition
Based on the most recent NCAA West Region rankings, Chico State is the favored team in both the men's and women's races. The Wildcats hold down the top spot in the regional poll in both divisions. Other CCAA schools ranked on the women's side are UC San Diego (5th), Cal State Los Angeles (6th) and Cal Poly Pomona (7th). On the men's side, CCAA teams listed in last week's poll are Cal Poly Pomona (3rd), Humboldt State (6th) and UC San Diego (8th).

Lumberjack Women's Notes
Humboldt State's women seek a higher spot than the fifth place they earned at the 2008 meet, which in turn was three spots higher than the Jacks finished in 2007. …HSU will be led by senior Megan Rolland, who has been the Jacks' top finisher in all meets this fall. Rolland, from Emmett, Idaho, placed 17th in last year's CCAA Championships. …Redshirt freshman Bridget Berg, who has been the Jacks' No. 2 runner this fall, has been battling a lower leg injury in recent weeks, leaving her status uncertain for Saturday. …HSU's other runners expected to place are Irene Graham, Chelsea Schaefer, Tess Dahlgren and Amanda Garcia. "All of them have improved nearly every meet out this fall," HSU head coach Sandy Moran said.  

Lumberjack Men's Notes
Humboldt State placed fourth in the 2008 CCAA meet behind Chico State, UC San Diego and Cal Poly Pomona. This year the Jacks have their sights on moving up even further, and a tight pack nearly all season long provides reason to believe it could happen. Less than a minute separated HSU's top five finishers in the Jacks' most recent performance at the San Francisco Invitational on Oct. 9. …Consistency has been sophomore Drew Sylvester's trademark this fall, one of the reasons he's led the Jacks at every meet. At the SF Invite Sylvester placed seventh and was the first CCAA runner across the line in Golden Gate Park. …Also making their marks this fall have been Nick LaPlant, Eric Malain, Luis Galicia, Alex Caballero, Austin Huff and Robert Gustas. Nicolas Arguelles, who finally made his debut in the Jacks' last meet only to suffer an early mishap, is another potential runner who could crack the top five. "It's uncertain who will be where among our top seven, "Moran said. "We've had our team meeting, they've set their goals and could really put together a strong race."