Veteran cross country head coach Tom Burleson feels that the 2009 edition of the Cal State San Bernardino women's cross country team could be as good as any team he's had in recent years. 
    Burleson has 18 runners out for the sport this fall, running eight to 10 miles a day in two-a-day workouts and incorporating speed work  as the team prepares to open the season on Sept. 5 at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational. 
    “We would like to be in the top five in our conference (CCAA),” said Burleson, starting his 20th season at CSUSB.  “This conference is so tough. There are three teams in the top 25 in the country and three or four in the West (region) top 10.” 
    CSUSB's goal each year is a top five finish in the CCAA championship and a top 15 showing in the NCAA West Regional. 
    The three perennial powers are Chico State, UC San Diego and in recent years Cal State L.A. with Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State and Humboldt State close behind. 
    “Everybody gets better every year,” he said. 
    CSUSB finished eighth in the CCAA and 15th at the NCAA West Regional in 2008. 
    The 2009 Coyotes, he said, are a “good group. Their focus is the best I've seen in several years. They have a different attitude.” 
    The newcomers include seven freshmen and two community college transfers. And the newcomers are making an impression right from the start, Burleson said. 
    Freshmen Deserae Perez (Moreno Valley-Valley View HS) and Samantha Borman (Redlands-Redlands High School) are among the top four runners in pre-season workouts along with sophomore Nikki Chesnut (San Bernardino-Cajon HS), the team's No. 1 runner most of last season, and senior Anjuli Nieto (Wrightwood-Serrano HS). 
    “These four are pretty solid,” said Burleson. 
    Perez set team records, earned all-league honors and was the team MVP in cross country at Valley View HS and a 3,200-meter qualifier in CIF track in 2008-09. “She has the same attributes as our former runner Tanya (Zeferjahn),” said Burleson. 
    Zeferjahn, of Hesperia, earned NCAA Div. II all-America honors in 2004 and holds most of the program's running records for 5,000 and 6,000 meter courses. She went on to capture the NCAA Div. II 10,000 meter title last spring while competing for Queens College of North Carolina as a graduate student. 
    Borman ran four years of cross country and track at Redlands HS. She was all-Citrus Belt League three times and the member of a CIF finalist team and a state qualifier. 
    Chesnut was the No. 1 runner for the Coyotes in all but one meet last year as a freshman. Nieto came on strong at the end of the season and was the second CSUSB runner to finish at the NCAA West Regional. 
    Rounding out the top eight runners on the team through early season workouts are senior Shawna Alvarez (Twentynine Palms/29 Palms HS), senior Angelica Lopez (San Bernardino/ Cajon HS); freshman Courtney Ciraulo (Highland/ Redlands East Valley HS), and freshman Rebecca Frazier (San Bernardino/ Cajon HS). 
    “We always want to be a top five team (in the conference),” said Burleson of the team's initial goal. “Another goal is to be a top 10 team in the region.” 
    The 2009 Coyotes are a “faster team” than some he has had in the past.
“We have a girl (Perez) who likes to run up front and girls who can run faster as a group,” Burleson said. 
    The team will once again showcase its talents at the 2009 UC Riverside Highlander Invitational set for Sept. 19.