BELMONT, Calif. - Despite a very strong showing by its freshman class, the University of Hawai`i women's cross country squad finished in eighth place this morning at the 2003 Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships at the Crystal Springs Course in Belmont, Calif., hosted by San Jose State. The temperature was in the low 60's with sunny skies and no wind.

Nevada, who is the only WAC team ranked in the recent polls, won the title scoring 43 points. The Wolf Pack was followed by UTEP (63), Rice (88), SMU (108), Fresno State (154), Tulsa (159), Boise State (163), UH (186), and San Jose State (190). Louisiana Tech did not score as a team and had only two runners finish the course.

All in all, Head coach Carmyn James was very pleased with the effort of her young and inexperienced squad.

"We only had one returning runner from a year ago this morning in senior Robin McRobbie," James said. "I was very happy with our freshmen who have led us all season long. Five of our nine runners this morning were freshmen, three juniors, and one senior."

The 5,000-meter Crystal Springs Course, according to James, maybe one of the toughest cross country courses in North America.

"We counted 22 hills that the team had to overcome this morning," James stated. "It is by far the hilliest course the team may run on in their college careers."

The Rainbow Wahine were led by the Canadian duo of Dana Buchanan and Chantelle Laan. Buchanan, a Canadian National Junior Champion in the 800-meter run this past summer, finished 22nd overall with a time of 18 minutes and 45 seconds. Buchanan was the fastest freshman overall. Laan came in at 19:04 and in 31st place overall.

"I'm probably in the best shape of my career cardiovascular-wise," Buchanan said. "But this course was very tough. We were either going up or down a hill the entire way with no flat spots at all."

Also, scoring for UH were McRobbie (39th, 19:34), Monica Su (41st, 19:37), and Heidi Frank (53rd, 20:09).

UH's non-scoring runners were Jenny Bell (54th, 20:13), Sheena Thain (59th, 20:46),Carolyn Berger (65th, 20:58), and Sharlene Carillo (68th, 21:08).

For Thain, it was her first race of the season and her first-ever trip to the mainland after becoming eligible only 10 days ago.

Hawai`i prepares for the Western Regionals in two weeks on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore. The seven expected to make the trip are Buchanan, Laan, McRobbie, Su, Frank, Thain, and Kelly Young that will tackle the first 6,000-meter course of the season.