SACRAMENTO, Calif. (UNLVrebels.com) – The UNLV cross country team took on their toughest competition of the 2023 season on Friday morning, competing at the 2023 NCAA Division I West Regional Cross Country Championships. The Rebels lined up at the Haggins Oak Golf Course out west, the fourth time this season the program competed in the neighboring state of California.
The Scarlet & Gray sent four student-athletes that competed among 253 participants from 39 programs, an overall increase compared to the 2022 championships. The team competed among several teams among the nation's best, including seventh-ranked Stanford, eighth-ranked Washington, 12th-ranked Oregon and multiple other program in the top-25.
Junior
Natalia Ruiz finished among the top-75 finishers in the women's 6k race, crossing the finish line on a final time of 20:50.1 Her strong season had an emphatic finish at the championships, her 2023 time and place eclipsing her 2022 performance by around 44 seconds and 84 places.
Isabella Schrader jumped up the ranks as the biggest improvement on time compared to the 2022 championships, finishing on a final time of 22:19.6 for a drop by around 58 seconds. The senior's performance also jumped up 50 spots, hurdling past the top 200 competitors to finish 185th overall in the 2023 event. The Friday morning race also marked the second-fastest time of Schrader's career in a UNLV uniform.
The Rebels' other two representatives on the course were
Abigail Danlag and
LaKyla Yazzie, finishing among the top 250 finishers in the race. Danlag ended the meet at 229th overall on a final time of 23:30.9, Yazzie crossing the finish line at 23:58.9 at 243rd overall. The fifth-year senior pushed past several competitors in the final stretch of the race, moving up three ranks in the final 1.2 kilometers of the race.
With the cross country season now at a close, the Rebels will gear up for the indoor track & field season in less than a month. They'll first compete at Boston University for the Sharon-Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Saturday, Dec. 2.
