MONMOUTH, OREG. - On Saturday, November 6th, the Sonoma State cross country team competed in the 2021 NCAA West Regional Championships in Monmouth, Oregon. With crazy weather throughout the entire day, the Seawolves battled to finish inside the top-20 of the 24 team field. Head coach David Lawrence Jr. and his group finished in 18th place with 493 points. Freshman Alex Boyle would yet again, lead the Seawolves finishing in 57th place with a time of 22:54.8. Despite Boyle not running their fastest 6k time of the season, their time of 22:54.8 would be the fastest West Regional time in the Seawolves cross country program since Kathy Lenno ran a 22:06 during the 2001 West Regional. Boyle's 57th place individual finish would also be the program's best individual finish since Rachel Borg in 2012. That year, Borg ran a 23:15 and placed 49th individually in the NCAA West Regional. Freshman Sophie Rodriguez would follow Boyle not far behind as she finished just outside the top-60 with a time of 22:57.7. Boyle and Rodriguez would be the first SSU runners to place inside the top-100 of the NCAA West Regional since Jasmine Casillas did so in 2016.   

The rest of Sonoma State's five runners finished outside the top-100 as freshmen Abby Ribet, Sara Wenger, and Maddy Petersen rounded out the regional race for SSU. Out of the 11 participating CCAA teams in the West Regional, Lawrence Jr. once again made history as his team repeated in 8th place as they did in the CCAA Championships two weeks prior. The 18th place team finish for the Seawolves was the program's best team finish in the West Regional since the 2011 season. A decade ago, Mark James led the SSU cross country team to a 16th place team finish in the West Regional. Since then, the program had not finished inside the top-20 in a West Regional but they would make some more history again as they ended that streak today with their 18th place team finish.

Despite not qualifying as a team or any student-athlete individually for the NCAA National Championships, Lawrence Jr. and his group this year helped break school records and record some of the program's best finishes in it's recent history. Congratulations to the entire Sonoma State women's cross country team on a terrific season and all the success they achieved this year.

Head coach David Lawrence Jr. will now gear up for the spring 2022 track & field season where he hopes to see similar trends with his program and student-athletes. Head to sonomaseawolves.com for the full 2021 XC West Regional team and individual results. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. @SonomaSeawolves #NomaNation