Wish you were somewhere a little warmer? Maybe, say, Palo Alto, Calif., where the skies are clear and temperatures sit steady in the mid 70s? Well, that’s the dreamy home of the Washington cross country teams this weekend.

But the Huskies aren’t there for vacation. They have business to attend to.

The sunny location is the host of the NCAA West Regional Championships — the final event for the Washington runners before heading to Indiana to compete in Nationals.

Owning the top rank in the country, the women’s team is an automatic qualifier for the National Championship. For this reason, coach Greg Metcalf has made it clear that he doesn’t want his runners to strain Saturday.

“We’re going to rest a couple athletes and let them save themselves for the national meet,” he said. “We just want to get through the weekend.”

Sitting out for the women will be freshman phenom and Pac-10 Individual Champion Kendra Schaaf, along with sophomore Lauren Saylor. As explained by fourth-year distance runner Amanda Miller, the women are simply looking forward to Indiana at this point.

“Really, this is just another stepping stone on the way to Nationals, which is our main focus,” Miller said. “We’re just going through the motions right now. Of course, we don’t want to go in and underestimate anyone, but this race is not really our priority.”

A solid performance at the event is imperative for the Husky men, though. Whether or not they qualify for Nationals is based solely on their performance this weekend.

“With the men we’ll need a little help from the other regions, but our goal is to go out there and be in the top four of the west regional and hope that’s enough to get into the national meet,” Metcalf said. “The men will have to run hard.”

The men face a tough field, going up against No. 1 Oregon and the rest of the Pac-10 for the second consecutive event. Led by gutsy senior Jeremy Mineau, the Dawgs placed third at the conference championships Oct. 31.

Mineau — who was forced to redshirt last year due to an injury — will surely do everything in his power to reach Nationals in his final year as a Husky. Whether or not the men make it, Amanda Miller has made a promise to her university.

“It’ll be a great day to be a Husky at Nationals,” Miller said. “That’s all I gotta say.”

Reach reporter Ben Foutz at sports@dailyuw.com.