NAMPA, Idaho - Sunny Southern California awaits the Northwest Nazarene University women's cross country team as they prepare to compete at the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, hosted by UC San Diego on the Campus Course on Saturday, November 8th.

Three NNU men will also compete as individuals at the championships, advancing on the strength of their finish at the GNAC Championships in Yakima.

Led by 2007 All-American Ashley Puga, the Crusader women are ranked 8th in the region heading into the title race and will compete with a roster that includes Jaclyn Puga, Elisa Decker, Ashley Rendahl, Shannon DeBoer, Megan Oberst and Jamie Beaty.

Neil Easter, Luke Hetrick and Jason Towrey will compete for the men.

The men's 10K race will begin at 8:45 a.m. and the women's 6K event will start at 10:15 a.m.

The top five women's teams at the regional earn invitations to the NCAA Division II National Championships, hosted in Slippery Rock, Penn. on November 22nd.

Coming into the regional, the NNU women posted a fifth-place finish at the GNAC Championships on Oct. 25th, and are looking to improve on a best-ever finish at the West Regional set last fall at Eagle Island State Park when NNU hosted the regional race and finished fifth as a team.

With the bar set high, Ashley Puga will also be looking to match her 2007 performance that saw her finish fourth and qualify for the NCAA Championships, where she earned All-American honors with a 19th-place finish in Joplin, Missouri.