Nov. 10, 2005

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's cross country team will run in the NCAA West Regional Championships at the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, Calif., and the Rebels are part of a strong field of runners attempting to advance to the NCAA Championships.

The Rebel lineup will be made Ali Ainsworth, Katie Hughes, Leta Rose, Jenni Shearer and Desarae Tyson and this will be the second time this year that UNLV has competed in a 6k race. Two weeks ago UNLV finished ninth at the Mountain West Conference Championships, which was also a 6k race. Shearer has been the Rebels' most consistent runner as she has been the highest finisher for UNLV at every meet this season.

Four top-30 teams will be at the West Regional, including host-No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 21 Oregon and No. 26 Washington are part of the 31-team field. Stanford has won the last six NCAA West Regional women's titles and eight of the past nine.

In each regional race, the top two team finishers and top four individuals not on a qualifying team automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for Nov. 21 at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind.

Another 13 at-large teams and two at-large individuals will be added to the 31-team, 255-runner men and women's fields on Nov. 13 by the NCAA Championships selection committee. At-large team selection criteria is based on teams' head-to-head records against other actual and potential NCAA qualifiers.

The men's 10,000 meters race is slated to start at 11 a.m. (PST) while the women's 6,000 meters competition will start at 12:15 p.m.