SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's cross country teams will compete in temperatures in the 20s and winds up to 25 miles per hour when they run in the 2022 NCAA Division II West Regional on Saturday on the campus of Montana State Billings. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The CSUSM men's team matched last season's third-place finish while the women's squad took fifth place at the CCAA Championships on Nov. 5 at Palo Corona Regional Park in Carmel, California. 
• Ruben Piña was CSUSM's top runner, placing 11th and earning All-CCAA honors with a time of 25:17.1
• For the first time this season, Luz Mercado was CSUSM's top runner after taking 22nd place with a time of 22:56.3. 

 

RACE 7 | NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGIONALS
Date	Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
Race Start Times	Men's 10K - 9 a.m.  Women's 6K - 10:15 p.m.
Location	Billings, Mont. (Amend Park)
Course Maps	Men's | Women's
Live Results	Run Sign Up

D2 WEST REGIONALS

• CSUSM last raced at Amend Park in Billings, Montana, in 2018 when MSUB last hosted the NCAA Division II Regionals. The men's team placed seventh while the women's squad took ninth back in 2018. 
• All-West Region selection Lisa Flora received an at-large bid to compete at the 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship after placing 12th at the West Regional. 
• Every team in the West Region has the option of sending a team to the West Regionals. 
• Last season, both of our teams finished in sixth place with the men's race being won by Chico State and the women's race's championship being awarded to Simon Fraser. 
• Former Cougar Shea Vavra claimed runner-up honors in 2021, finishing behind Patrick Kiprop of Fresno Pacific. 
• On the women's side, Renee Laurenzana was CSUSM's top runner with a 17th-place finish in 2021 while Stanislaus State's Kaela Dishion claimed the individual title. 
• Renee Laurenzana was the first Cougar to cross the line in last year's race, taking fourth out of 88 runners with a time of 21:06.8.

 

MEET THE COUGARS

• The women's team returns 13 runners while the men's team has eight returners from the 2021 squad. 
• Twenty student-athletes will be wearing Cougar Blue this season (14 women, six men). 
• In their final races of 2021, both teams finished sixth at the NCAA Division II West Regional hosted by Western Oregon. 
• Shea Vavra was CSUSM's lone representative at the 2021 NCAA Division II National Championships in Saint Leo, Florida, where he finished 116th out of 262 runners. 
• The Cougars were picked third in both the CCAA Men's & Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll.
• In the preseason edition of the 2022 NCAA Division II National Rankings, as released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA), the women were ranked 27th while the men were receiving votes (both are sixth in the West Region). 

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his fifth season at the helm of the men's and women's cross country programs after taking over in the summer of 2018.
• Olson came to CSUSM after spending three seasons as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University where his teams earned 50-plus All-American honors.
• Olson served as the head cross country coach the previous three years at Academy of Art.
• In addition to the Academy of Art, Olson has also worked with the University of San Francisco and Pomona-Pitzer College.
• A graduate of Pomona College in 2009, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary's College (2012).