The conference's cross country best will emerge on Saturday, October 29 at the 2005 Big West Cross Country Championships in Riverside, CA at the UC Riverside Agricultural Operations Course. The conference's seven men's squads will run on an 8K course at 8 a.m., followed by the eight women's squads on an 6K course at 9 a.m.

On the women's side, UC Santa Barbara looks to defend its two consecutive Big West titles. None of the top ten finishers from last year's championship will compete this year. Last year's first, second and fourth place finishers, Lauren Christman, Lindsay Christman, and Stephanie Rothstein redshirted for UCSB this season. Junior Bethany Nickless of UCSB ran the overall fastest time this season with a 21:49 finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 15. With the loss of Utah State and Idaho who departed for the WAC following the 2004 season, the field of competition will be an even tighter race. The Gauchos slipped out of the national polls this week but have been previously ranked as high as 17th this season. UC Irvine is currently ranked ninth in the regional polls.

For the men's teams, Cal Poly looks to three-peat as conference champion, as the Mustangs have claimed five of the last eight titles. The Mustangs are 27th in the nation in the most recent MONDO poll and six runners from last year's championship squad will return to compete for the title. Four of last year's Big West Championship top 10 finishers return this year including Chris Ashley (UCSB), Mike Chavez (UCSB), Andy Coughlin (CP) and Luke Llamas (CP). Cal Poly's toughest challengers look to be UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State and UC Irvine, which are all ranked regionally. Senior Jimmy Grabow of Long Beach State finished with the overall fastest time for the season with a 24:03 mark on Sept. 24 at the Stanford Invitational.

The Big West Championships return to UC Riverside's Agricultural Operations Course for the third time in four years.