Cross country keeps on rolling this year — the women took home first place while the men finished in third this past Saturday at the NCAA West Regional held in Eugene, Ore.

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Seniors Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters were the top two finishers at this weekend’s NCAA West Regional. McWalters won the race and was the only woman under 20 minutes. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8196
Courtesy of Spencer Allen

Seniors Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters were the top two finishers at this weekend’s NCAA West Regional. McWalters won the race and was the only woman under 20 minutes.

The NCAA West Regional was the last official competition for the Cardinal before the NCAA Championships next week in Terre Haute, Ind.

Senior Teresa McWalters came up big for Stanford, winning the individual title with a mark of 19:57.30.

“Our team came in with an awesome ability to focus on what we needed to do to get to nationals, and not be distracted,” McWalters told GoStanford.com. “The crowds at Oregon are always so great and supportive — we just wished they were cheering for us, so we kind of pretend they are. The whole team ran well and did their best for their teammates. We have an amazing group of women on this team who are so supportive of each other.”

Freshman Alexandra Gits and seniors Arianna Lambie and Lauren Centrowitz were also top-10 finishers for the tournament. In third place, Gits clocked in with a time of 20:23.40, last year’s champion Lambie finished fifth in 20:31.25, and Centrowitz came in 10th with a mark of 20:44.80.

The No. 1 women won the competition easily, scoring 33 points. Oregon came in second with 76 points and Arizona State finished in third with 106 points.

Although they didn’t experience quite the same success as the women, the Cardinal men finished third at the West Regional, qualifying for the NCAA Championships which take place next Monday.

Stanford combined for 100 points, led by senior Neftalem Araia (30:08.35) and junior Hari Mix (30:20.60), who had top-ten finishes with times of 30:08.35 and 30:20.60, respectively. Juniors Hakon DeVries (30:51.00), Garrett Heath (30:52.35) and senior Russell Brown (30:54.45) also contributed to the effort.

Both the men and women will now travel to Indiana for next week’s NCAA Championships. The women are looking to win their third national straight title while the men hope to improve on their fourth-place finish from last year.

A third national title for the women would solidify their place in Stanford history, and the team has high hopes going into next Monday’s meet.

“Our class came in together, and even as freshmen we were pretty mature for our ages,” McWalters said. “We were also lucky to have several upperclassmen here then that helped us to deal with the transition to college quickly. They had been close to winning [nationals] a couple years, and they taught us things that we’ve been able to benefit from right away.”