Oregon's Rupp, Stanford's Lambie look to defend Pac-10 Titles

	Reigning Pac-10 Champion, Stanford's Arianna Lambie

Oct. 22, 2007

MEN'S RACE (39th annual). . . ARIZONA's predominately freshman squad (nine freshmen, three sophomores and one junior) will be paced by freshman Victor Zazueta... ARIZONA STATE senior Kyle Alcorn leads a Sun Devil squad that has been successful at two high-caliber meets this season, finishing second at the Roy Griak Invitational and ninth at in the White Divison race at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational... Senior David Torrence will pace the CALIFORNIA Golden Bears. He posted a 16th place showing to lead Cal to a third-place finish in the Blue Race at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational. Cal's impressive team showing moved the Bears into the national rankings at No. 8 (tied)... The top-ranked OREGON Ducks will be led by a pair of juniors in defending Pac-10 champion Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott. Rupp has yet to compete this season, while Kiptoo-Biwott finished second in his only race of the year (Bill Dellinger Invitational)... STANFORD, which had it's string of six consecutive Pac-10 titles snapped by Oregon last season, looks to regain the Pac-10 crown behind seniors Russell Brown and Neftalem Araia. Each have paced the Cardinal in separate meets this season... Senior Austin Ramos will keep UCLA in the hunt. He's been the Bruins top finisher in each of the two races he's run this year... WASHINGTON will look to junior Jon Harding to lead the Huskies. He set a course record at the Sundodger Invitational earlier this season, running the 8,000-meter course in 23:36... WASHINGTON STATE has been led by senior Andrew Jones. He's been the top-finishing Cougar in each of the three meets he's competed.

WOMEN'S RACE (22nd annual). . . A competitive race featuring four teams ranked among the nation's Top 10... Junior Irine Lagat will lead the ARIZONA women. She placed 40th at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational... ARIZONA STATE has been ranked among the top 10 teams this season, thanks to the strong showing by junior Jenna Kingma. The fifth-ranked Sun Devils finished second at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational, with Kingma crossing the finish line first for Arizona State, ninth overall... CALIFORNIA senior Rebecca Yau has been the top finisher for the Golden Bears in two of the three meets she's competed in this season... OREGON quickly moved up the rankings this season to its current No. 2 spot thanks in part to strong performances from junior Zoe Nelson and sophomore Nicole Blood... Host OREGON STATE will be guided by junior Sylvia Veal. Veal has been the top Beaver finisher in each of her three races... Top-ranked STANFORD Cardinal two-time defending champion senior Arianna Lambie will attempt to become the second woman in Pac-10 history to win three consecutive Pac-10 titles. Senior Teresa McWalters will also contend for top honors for the defending national champions... UCLA will be led by senior Claire Rethmeier. She was the Bruins top finisher at the recent NCAA Pre-Invitational... USC freshman Zsofia Erdelyi has come on strong for the Trojans. She placed 13th in her first meet, then had a third-place finish in her second meet. She topped those performances by winning the UC San Diego Triton Invitational in a course-record time... The ninth-ranked WASHINGTON Huskies are coming off an impressive showing at the NCAA Pre-Invitational where they finished fourth in the White Race. Junior Anita Campbell has been the Huskies top runner on what has been one of Washington's most competitive squads in recent years... WASHINGTON STATE will be led by Sara Trané, the Pac-10 champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Trané was the top finishing Cougar at the NCAA Pre-Invitational, finishing 17th in the Blue Race.