Regional Previews: West Men

1. Stanford- Led by the Rosas and Ben Johnson, the Cardinals should run to victory here after a second place finish at Pac-12s to Mountain Region team Colorado.  They are ranked 3rd in the nation.

2. Portland- The Pilots lost their top 2 runners to transfer from last year but they still are great.  They recently defeated BYU at the conference meet by one point.  If the Pilots still had Dunbar and Osoro they would be hunting for an NCAA title.

3. Oregon- I hesitate greatly to put the Ducks here.  They have one of the better up front duos in the NCAA but their 3-5 are pathetic for the talent they have on that roster.  They went 30-31-37 at Pac-12s.  That being said, they did escape a decent day from AZ state at conference.

4. Arizona State-  If Darius Terry has a better day, the Sundevils take down the Ducks.  They were 4th at Pac-12s led by Nick Haape and Kansas transfer Zach Zarda.

5. UCLA- The Bruins were right behind AZ State who was right behind Oregon at Pac-12s. They are ranked 27th nationally and look to qualify for NCAAs led by Lane Werley who was 5th at Pac-12.

6. Washington- The Huskies look the be the odd ones out in the West Region.  They were only 14 points back from Oregon at Pac-12s and need to jump at least one team ahead of them if they want to get to nationals.  As it stands, they have just one at large point.  Look for Joey Bywater and Tyler King (2nd frosh at Big 12s) to lead them.

7. Cal Poly- The Mustangs get the nod over Arizona due to their pack running.  They scored 25 points at Big West going 1-3 with a 25 second spread.

8. Arizona- The Wildcats are going to do about as bad as a team with 3 points through 2 runners can do.  They have a 2-3 spread of 2:30 in most races.  How hard is it to recruit 3 somewhat decent guys to this team?

9. Washington State- They might as well make the Pac-12 into the West Region and give Portland a bye here.  WSU was 8th at Pac-12 and I pick them 9th here.

10. Gonzaga- These guys get the nod over SanFran who they edged by 2 points at the WCC.

It looks like the top-5 teams will make it out of this region unless Washington or Cal Poly run great and beat a few teams in the top 5.

Individuals
1. Lalang, AZ
2. Sambu, AZ
3. Dunbar, Oregon
4. Stinson, Oregon
5. Werley, UCLA
6. Fauble, Portland
7. Kincaid, Portland
8. Perry, Portland
9. Rosa, Stanford
10. Johnson, Stanford

Possible individual qualifiers: (other than AZ duo)
Barak Watson, Boise State
Weston Strum, Loyola Marymount
Chris Frias, Cal Poly