Results
SACRAMENTO - UC Irvine women's cross country finished 16th out of 35 teams at the NCAA West Regional Championships Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.
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The Anteaters (455) came in just five points behind UCLA, while placing ahead of several other Pac-12 schools including Cal, Arizona State and USC. It was UCI's highest regional finish in 13 years.
"The women improved 11 spots from our last regional in 2019, and were just a few points from catching UCLA and cracking the top-15," said UCI distance coach
Casey Kear. "Hannah bounced back with a solid race to lead us up front, and the next scoring four all ran really well in their first-ever NCAA regional."
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All-Big West performer
Hannah Chau led the way with a career-best 32nd-place finish, which also marked UC Irvine's best individual showing since Laura Olvera in 2008 (26th). Chau covered the 6,000-meter course in 20:38.8. She has been the Anteaters' No. 1 runner in every meet this season.
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The next four 'Eaters to cross the finish line were freshmen making their NCAA West Regional debut.
Anna Vogtmann led the pack in 71st with a time of 21:16.8.
Sameen Andar (22:06.7),
Olivia Liuson (22:07.9) and
Amber Rios (22:08.4) then rounded out the team's top-five.
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Sophomore
McKenna Paulson (22:14.9) and junior
Patricia Sanchez (22:58.9) also competed for UC Irvine.