HONOLULU – For the third straight year, the Chaminade University women's cross country team will participating in the NCAA West Regional, held at the Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon.
The Silversword ladies are coming off a ninth-place finish at the Pacific West Conference Championship, the fifth time in six years of finishing in the top-nine of the conference meet.
Headlining the 'Swords is junior
Nikiji Dayse (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) who is proving to be one of the top runners in program history. Her 15th-place overall finish at the 6-kilometer championship was the highest by a 'Swords runner in conference event since Emily Ochsner took 11th place at the 2011 meet. In fact, Dayse's finishing time of 22 minutes, 23.7 seconds broke the program's 6-k low, a record she had previously set two weeks earlier at the University of Hawai'i Hilo Invitational.
Jordyn Koki (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama), who has elected to forgo her final year of athletic eligibility and will be receiving her degree in just three years, will be making her third career regional the final race of her career.
Cassie Chong (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani), a junior, will also be competing in the regional for the third time.
Emily Cooper (Mount Desert Island, Maine/Mount Desert Island) will be in her second career regional and look to improve her standing from last season.
Freshman
Jocelyn Thomas (Tonganoxie, Kan./Kaiser, Honolulu), who has been consistently the team's No. 2 runner, will be competing in her first regional as well as softball-player-turned-runner
Maggie Turnbach (Brick, N.J./St. Rose).
The 'Swords men's team will be represented by freshman
Kalama Francisco (Pahoa, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Hawai'i), who will be racing as an individual. The men's course will be a 10-k, the standard NCAA postseason distance, two kilometers longer than what he has previously ran during the regular season.
The women's 6-k begins at 8 a.m. Hawai'i time followed by the men at 9:15 a.m. HST.
