LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego women's cross country team finished in sixth place, while the men's squad took seventh at the 2008 Division II West Regional Championships Saturday morning on the UCSD campus. While neither team qualified for the NCAA National Championships, Bre Schofield and Jake LeVieux will represent the Tritons as individuals after finishing fifth and 14th overall in their respective races.

Looking to take advantage on their home course, UCSD's runners gave a spirited effort but didn't have enough against the powerful members of the West Region.

The teams from Chico State dominated the competition Saturday, sweeping both the men's and women's races. The Wildcats will advance to the national meet on November 22 in Slippery Rock, Pa.

Joining Chico State will be the University of Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington, as the West Region will send three men's squads to the National Championships. In addition to the Wildcats, Seattle Pacific, Alaska Anchorage, Cal State L.A., and Western Washington will be the five women's teams representing the region.

The Tritons' leader all season long on the women's side, Schofield did her best to give the team a chance, finishing with a time of 21:44.2. The redshirt freshman was just four seconds behind the fourth place runner, Alaska Anchorage's Laura Carr and took home All-Region accolades for her performance.

As one of the top two finishers on non-qualifying teams, Schofield will head to Slippery Rock to compete in the National Championships as an individual in two weeks.

Senior Ashleigh Montgomery was the next fastest runner for UCSD, finishing 27th overall with a time of 23:26.2. CCAA Freshman of the Year Elena Inouye crossed the finish line with a time of 24:09.7, which was good enough for 51st place, while Brianna Alban and Kim Andrews rounded out the scoring for the Tritons, finishing in 59th and 61st place, respectively.

Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific was the top individual finisher, separating herself from the pack and finishing with a time of 20:57.1. She easily defeated the second place runner, Chico State's Tori Tyler, who finished with a time of 21:33.9. Sarah Porter of Western Washington finished third at 21:38.1.

Chico finished with 60 points to best second place Seattle Pacific, which tallied 92. Alaska Anchorage scored 104 points to finish third, 10 points in front of fourth place Cal State L.A. Western Washington finished fifth with 141 points to beat out UCSD (203) for the final bid the NCAA Championships.

LeVieux led the way for the Tritons on the men's side once again, finishing 14th overall with a time of 33:41.1. He finished 23 seconds in front of teammate Gabe LaMothe, who placed 18th at 34:04.9. Like Schofield, LeVieux also earned All-Region recognition and a trip to the NCAAs as an individual competitor.

Mike Wright, Jeremy Riley, and Max Mullender were the final three UCSD runners to score on the day, finishing with respective times of 35:39.9, 35:55.7, and 37:09.6. Wright finished in 45th place, while Riley came in 51st and Mullender took 70th.

The Wildcats' Scott Bauhs broke the tape in the men's 10k, finishing with a time of 32:15.8, which was nine seconds in front of Alaska Anchorage's Marko Cheseto. St. Martin's John Riak (32:35.1) finished third, while Angel Marguez (32:36.0) took fourth and UAA's Jacob Parisien (32:54.2) placed fifth.

Chico State garnered 28 points to easily earn the team crown, while second place Alaska Anchorage tallied 67. Western Washington's 103 was good enough for third. The Tritons tallied 189, four points more than sixth place Hawaii Pacific.

BYU-Hawaii's Amanda Whitford finished seventh overall with a time of 22:15.5 and she will join Schofield as one of the region's two individual women's competitors. Riak will join LeVieux on the men's side.

The men's run, which began at 8:45 a.m. PT, was stopped after the runners were misdirected navigating the course. The 10k was then rerun at 11:00 after the women's race.