They have one week between regions and nationals whereas other regions have two weeks. That may have something to do with it. I have a friend who qualified out of the west region. She barely slipped into #10. I knew she didn't perform to her potential and so I asked her about it. She told me she was saving it for Nationals. She ended up getting 22, 4th for west. Athletes in the west almost need to have a "do what it takes to qualify only" mentality in the West.
It's even worse for CA who want to win FL. They have, starting from FL going back: FL, FL West, State and whatever precedes that. Ideally they shouldn't need to put in epic efforts until FL, but in reality they will have to run hard 3 weeks in a row. Of course, that could be an advantage of timing peaks- easier to time for just one peak.