SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's cross country teams will head up to Billings, Montana, to run under the sun with temperatures in the 50s and winds between 10-15 mph for the 2024 NCAA Division II West Regional on Saturday, Nov. 9. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The men's squad moved up from their 2023 finish to place fourth with 99 points while the women's team placed fifth with 127 points at the CCAA Championships on Oct. 25 in Fresno.
• Sanklap Shastri captured his first All-CCAA accolade by finishing in fifth place after crossing the finish line at 24:26.3 in the 8K race.  
• Angela McManus and Hailie Lomeli both collected All-CCAA honors after taking eighth (22:01.2) and 12th (22:15.9) place, respectively. 
• The men's squad moved up to No. 10 in the USTFCCCA West Regional Rankings. 

 
NCAA WEST REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

• Montana State Billings will host the NCAA West Regional for the fourth time since 2014.
• Last season, the men's squad took 11th place while the women's team snagged 13th place at Regionals. 
• Carly Schueger was CSUSM's top runner in 2023 for the women's team with a 43rd-place finish in a 6K time of 22:13.1. 
• On the men's side, Nick Melanese was the first Cougar to cross the line in a 10K time of 32:05.0 for 48th place in 2023. 
• The CSUSM's women's team's best West Regional finish came in 2017, the department's first year of full NCAA Divsion II eligibility, with fifth place as the squad took eighth place two weeks later at the NCAA National Championships. 
• The Cougar men's squad's best West Regional finish was a third-place finish in 2019. 
• A total of 34 teams from around the country will get the chance to compete for the national cross country crown on Saturday, Nov. 23 at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento. 
• The top three teams in each of the eight regional championships held throughout the nation Saturday will earn automatic bids to the finals, with ten additional teams selected as at-large bids by the NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country Committee. There is no limit to the number of at-large teams that may be selected from any given region.
• After the 34 selected teams have been determined, a minimum of 24 additional individuals are selected to compete at the NCAA Championships. The top two individuals who are not part of a qualifying team will automatically advance to the championship, while all individuals who finish in the top five at the regional meets and are not part of a qualifying team will automatically advance. Eight individual runners will be selected at-large, with no limit to the number of at-large individuals that may be chosen from the same region.
• The top 25 runners will be recognized as an All-West Region honoree. 

MEET THE COUGARS

• The women's team returns 13 runners while the men's team has 11 returners from the 2023 squad. 
• Twenty new student-athletes will be wearing Cougar Blue this season (15 women, five men).
• In their final races of 2023, the men's squad finished 11th while the women's team took 13th place at the NCAA West Regional hosted by Western Oregon. 

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his seventh 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).