San Antonio, TEXAS – The Trinity cross country teams are gearing up for the NCAA West Region Championships this weekend in Claremont, California. This Saturday could prove a historic one for the Tiger women, who are on the cusp of earning their first nationals bid as a team since 2017.
The men, currently ranked eighth in the region, will race first. They have finished eighth at this meet in each of the last two years, besting their ninth-place finish three years ago. With a nationals bid looking unlikely, they will hope to break the eight-place streak that has come to haunt the Tigers. Fortunately for them, they will be carrying the momentum from their SAA conference championship win two weekends ago. Eli Bliss led the team for the second straight week, running a big PR of 25:46 to take sixth overall. With one of the most tight-knit packs in the region, the Tigers could be primed to challenge teams like sixth-ranked La Verne University if all goes to plan.
The women's race is where things really get exciting for the Tigers. Currently ranked fourth in the region and 28th nationally, Trinity is in a prime position to make the big dance for the first time since 2017.
Gianna Keena has led the team all season and will look to compete for a top 10 spot, or more, in California. Despite what was an off day by her standards at the SAA meet, she still captured fourth and helped the Tigers cruise to their first conference championship since 2021. While the top five runners have been a changing carousel all season,
Anne Snider and
Avery Hand have been the other two markers of consistency for the Tigers. They finished second and fifth for Trinity at conference, respectively.
Last season, five teams from the West Region earned bids to the national championship. Only one team from each region (of which there are 10) is guaranteed a nationals bid. The remaining 22 must receive an at-large bid based on their performance at the regional meet and their season's performance. The Trinity women, who have spent the last two weeks ranked No. 28 nationally, have a strong track record to convince an at-large committee. Now, it'll be up to their performance at regionals.
Their main competition will come from Pomona-Pitzer, the University of California, Santa Cruz and George Fox University. The Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer currently rank third in the west and No. 21 nationally. At the Augustana Interregional Invitational on Oct. 18, they finished seventh to the Tigers' 10th. Keena finished just two spots and less than a second in front of their fastest finisher. The Tigers would all but guarantee their spot at nationals were they to finish in front of the Sagehens.
A big question mark for the Tigers will be the performance of UCSC. Once ranked second in the region and No. 20 nationally, the Banana Slugs had an extremely underwhelming performance at Augustana, finishing 11th just three points behind Trinity. Their fall was due in large part to the mid-race injury of their top runner, who has not raced since. Even without that asset, the Banana Slugs rank fifth in the region and will be a serious competitor for the Tigers to watch out for.
The George Fox Bruins currently rank sixth in the west and are unranked nationally, although they spent the beginning of the season just barely ranked at No. 30. The Bruins have also been hampered by injury, as their second-best runner hasn't raced since early October. Whether or not she races, and it looks unlikely, could make or break whether or not the Bruins are a team to watch out for.
A fourth-place finish for the Tigers would more than likely get them into nationals, considering the strength of the West Region and their position in the national rankings. A fifth-place finish could get the job done, but likely only if UCSC is the other team in, not George Fox. Anything lower than fifth will almost certainly eliminate the Tigers from contention.
If their names are called, the Tigers will head to Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Nov. 22 for the NCAA DIII National Championships. Before the Tigers can worry about the plethora of scenarios that could shape their path to Spartanburg, however, there's a race to be run.
