If you thought it was nice having two cross country teams running around campus, just wait until November. On the weekend of Nov. 14, more than 200 runners from 32 teams (16 men’s and 16 women’s) will descend on Claremont to compete.

Every November, the best cross country teams from across the United States compete at NCAA Regional meets to qualify for Nationals. This year’s NCAA West Regionals will occur on Pomona’s new home course.

Tomorrow, Pomona is to host a preview race on the course, where the Sagehens will compete against many SCIAC teams as well as other California schools, such as Chapman and UC Santa Cruz. The men’s race will begin at 7:30 a.m. and the women will start at 8:15 a.m. It will be the first time Pomona has had a cross country meet at home since 1990.

Many runners are wary of the redundancy of the course, but the P-P teams also note that the location will be great for spectators.

“Although cross country is inherently unfriendly for spectators, the competition is still raw and heated,” insisted Brian Gillis PO ’10. “Watching a race unfold is actually pretty interesting if you are able to see the runners multiple times. The fact that the course makes four tight loops means that it will be easy for fans to see the runners multiple times.”Not only will Sagehen runners have the advantage of cheering fans, but they will also have an intimate knowledge of the course.

“After all of the workouts we have done this season, we will be able to run the course with our eyes closed by November,” said Rose Haag PO ’10.

Haag’s confidence was met by some giggles as teammates recalled a tumble she took when running to catch a van to a track meet last spring. While sprinting along the trails that now make up the NCAA Regional course, Haag tripped, catapulting herself and her bags through the air as her team watched from the van. Still, many a Sagehen share Haag’s sentiment.

“I think that the home team athletes always have an advantage competing on their own turf,” said Hannah McConnell PO ’12. “We have run sections of the course in practice all season, so we will be able to anticipate the hills and turns when it comes time to race.”

According to Women’s Coach Kirk Reynolds, the 19-year hiatus between home meets for Pomona is due to the rise of neutral courses.

“There was for a while a trend of having home courses at every school for Dual meets,” Reynolds said. “As neutral courses became more popular and schools developed more of their land, many of the courses were lost. The change to an 8K for the Men’s races also started a trend in courses with larger loops and less repetition.”

The previous P-P course included the area that is now the football field, the dirt trails of today’s course, and some segments on the roads.

When the team decided to host the 2009 regional meet, they originally scouted local golf courses. When the search proved fruitless, the coaches turned to a course that had been right in front of them the whole time: the dirt trails surrounding the Wash.

The men’s 8K and women’s 6K courses consist of the same 445 meter start section, a 1,685 meter loop that is repeated four times for the men and three times for the women, and a similar finishing loop which ends on P-P’s blue track (see map). The starting line will be at the south end of the soccer field. At the sound of the starting gun, the runners will stride north across the soccer field and continue up and across to the north end of the track, where they will curve to the left off the track and onto dirt trails. The loop that both the men and women then complete will send harriers along the dirt trails below the soccer field in the Wash and farm areas, then to the trails east of Haldeman Pool, and finally around the soccer field itself.

The Nov. 14 meet will be a chance to watch the best runners in the West region battle for a trip to Nationals in Ohio.