NEW ORLEANS — Fresh off the heels of earning San José State's first-ever trip to the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships, senior Jennifer Sandoval earned a USTFCCCA All-West Region selection on Monday.
Sandoval is the first runner in program history to be named to the women's All-Region team.
"Being an All-Region recipient in the West is a huge accomplishment," says head coach Brad Wick. "She has been right on the cusp of being All-Region the last two years so to finally break through and do it in a big way is really cool. She has really put herself in a position now as one of the top runners in both the west and the nation."
A Fontana, Calif. product, Sandoval earned All-Mountain West honors earlier this month after placing eighth in the conference championship meet. She then took to Colfax, Wash. for the NCAA West Regionals, earning the region's final individual invitation to nationals with a time of 20:09.8 in the 6K.
The senior was strong all season long in her final year as a Spartan, earning medalist honors at both the Capital Cross Challenge and Santa Clara Invitational.
"I think she did a great job of building on each of her performances throughout the year," Wick says. "The conference and region meets are extremely competitive but I thought those were her best races of the year. We're hoping the climb continues with one more big race at the NCAA Championships."
The NCAA Championships are set for Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. Sandoval and the rest of the field will start their race at 8:15 a.m. (PT).