Cal Heads To NCAA West Regionals

Bears look to build off momentum from conference championships.

XC11/8/2023 11:11 AM | By: Cal Athletics

Bears Seeking NCAA Bid In Sacramento

BERKELEY – The California men’s and women’s cross country teams head to Sacramento on Friday for NCAA West Regional competition. The races will take place at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course beginning with the women’s 6,000-meter run at 10 a.m. PST. The men’s 10,000-meter race will follow the women’s at 11 a.m. Live results for both events can be accessed here.
 
The top two teams at each of the nine regional championships will automatically advance to the 2023 NCAA Championships. Thirteen teams will also be selected to receive at-large bids. Additionally, the first four individual finishers at regionals who are not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team will receive an auto-bid and two individuals from the national pool will receive a bid to the championships. This year’s NCAA Championships will take place on Nov. 18 at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Virginia.
 
The Golden Bears seek a NCAA berth following their impressive outing at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago. The men’s squad took fifth place overall – the team’s best finish since 2011 – and collected two All-Pac-12 Second Team recognitions in seniors Garrett MacQuiddy and Carrick Denker.
 
On the women’s side, the team brought home eighth-place – a two-place improvement from last year’s conference championships – and a top-40 finisher in standout freshman Amelia Wardle-Stacey. It was the third of four meets in which the youngster has been the top scorer for the women’s team.
 
Denker has broken his personal record in the 8k the last three-consecutive races while MacQuiddy has notched new personal-bests in each of the last two. Now, they will look to break their personal records in the 10k, which they have both set at previous regional championships. Denker holds a 30:54.8 career mark, which he set in 2022, while MacQuiddy’s best time is 31:18.4, which he ran in 2021 to collect Cal’s top scoring slot.
 
Wardle-Stacey will look to continue her excellent debut campaign at her first regional championships. She has been one of Cal’s top-two scorers in every women’s competition this season. Her best 6k time came at the Bronco Invite on…