Oct. 18, 2003
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's cross country squad claimed its first meet title of the season, placing five runners among the top 11 finishers Saturday at the Long Beach Invitational at El Dorado Park in Long Beach, Calif. The Aztecs, who earned their first team title since winning the University of Hawai'i meet three years ago, beat out nine other squads, finishing with 27 total points in the 86-runner field of the 6K race.
"The team ran really well together and were able to close up the gaps," SDSU coach Jennifer Nanista said. "Our top five is really running solidly and another couple of weeks of sharpening and rest should put us in a really good position for the conference meet."
Senior Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) was the first Aztec to cross the finish line for fifth time in as many tries this season, coming in third overall with a time of 22:20, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Sophomore Christal Cuadra (Honolulu, Hawaii) continued to run well, coming in fifth in 22:54, which ties for 10th in the SDSU record book.
The duo was helped by senior Kylie Edwards (Mt. Dundeed, Australia) and junior Allison Brown (Mission Viejo, Calif.), who rounded out the top 10 with eighth (23:21) and ninth-place (23:27) finishes respectively. Red-shirt freshman Christian Fairing (Irvine, Calif.) recorded the best performance of her career with an 11th-place time of 23:40, her first career 6K race under the 24-minute mark.
Other Aztecs to compete included: junior Tina Fodor (25th - 24:22), Sara Cates (37th - 24:51), Angie Fitzpatrick (43rd - 25:01), Celeste Tyson (45th - 25:20), Ali Baker (47th - 25:41), Brianne Bricker (51st - 26:00), Julie Amster (56th - 26:19), Jamillah Titus (57th - 26:25) and Jackie Duncan (59th - 26:29).
SDSU takes a week off to rest for the Mountain West Conference championships, set for Nov. 1, in San Diego at Morley Field. The day starts with the men's 8K race at 9 a.m., followed an hour later by the women's 6K championship at 10 a.m.