Cross Country

SDSU Cross Country Travels To Stanford

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Sept. 20, 2004

SAN DIEGO -

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The San Diego State women's cross country team will face its biggest test of the season on Sat., Sept. 25, at the prestigious 31st annual Stanford Invitational, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Stanford Golf Course.

The Aztecs will compete in the 6K, which is the fourth collegiate race of the day. More than 3,000 runners representing both the collegiate and high school levels are set for the largest cross country meet this year in Northern California.

*SDSU's opponents Saturday include two top-25 teams with host and No. 1 Stanford and No. 8 UCLA. The meet also features UC Santa Barbara, which is receiving votes in the FinishLynx poll, and Mountain West Conference foe UNLV.

*For the first time this season, the Aztecs will run a 6K course, which is the distance used at November's important conference, regional and national championship meets.

SDSU has run the 5K distance at the Fullerton Opener, Fresno State lnvitational and the Aztec Invitational.

2003 Stanford Invitational

*In 2003, the San Diego State women's cross country team finished 12th out of 26 teams at the 30th annual Stanford Invitational. The Aztecs, racing their first 6K distance of the season, ended up with 314 team points at a meet won by 24th-ranked UCLA, which upset No. 2 Stanford to the title.

Senior Marie Nilsson was the first SDSU runner to cross the finish line for the third straight meet, coming in 13th of 187 runners with a time of 21:53. Behind her was sophomore Christal Cuadra (Honolulu, Hawaii), who established herself as the team's consistent No. 2 runner, placing 36th overall in 22:32.

*Final Team Results (Top 5 and SDSU) - 1. UCLA (37 pts.); 2. Stanford (56); 3. Wisconsin (88); 4. Arkansas (101); 5. Nevada (219); 12. SDSU (314 pts.).

*Stanford Individual Results (6K) (2004 Returnees) - 36. Christal Cuadra (22:32); 105. Christian Fairing (24:01); 113. Celeste Tyson (24:13)*; 152. Jamillah Titus (25:24). *- personal best time

Last Week At The Aztec Invitational

Aztec junior Christal Cuadra finished in 35th place to pace the San Diego State women's cross country team to a 13th-place team finish (283 pts.) in the 60th Annual Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park on Saturday. No. 20 Duke University won the women's invitational race with a near-perfect 18 points, followed by Arizona (97 pts.), No. 15 Northern Arizona (109 pts.), Southern Utah (149 pts.) and USC (176 pts.).

"I was happy with our grouping today," SDSU assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "We had a 33-second gap between our number 2 and 7 runners. It's still early in the season and we will get faster."

Cuadra, who didn't compete in the first two races for SDSU this season, completed the 5,000-meter course in 19:44. Duke's Shannon Rowbury won the invitational race with time of 17:03, the ninth fastest effort in Aztec Invitational history.

Sophomore Ali Baker (Pine Valley, Calif.) was the next Aztec runner to cross the line in 61st place (20:21). Following Baker was freshman Brookie Dettermann (68th, 20:27), sophomores Celeste Tyson (70th, 20:28), Sara Cates (77th, 20:43) and Christian Fairing (80th, 20:53) and junior Jackie Duncan (82nd, 20:54). Junior Jamillah Titus (100th, 21:32) and senior Emily Joller (105th, 21:58) also finished the course for SDSU.

*Final Team Results: - 1. Duke (18 pts.); 2. Arizona (97); 3. Northern Arizona (109); 4. Southern Utah (149); 5. USC (176); 13. SDSU (283).

*Aztec Individual Results (5K): 35. Christal Cuadra (19:44); 61. Ali Baker (20:21); 68. Brookie Dettermann (20:27); 70. Celeste Tyson (20:28); 77. Sara Cates (20:43); 80. Christian Fairing (20:53); 82. Jackie Duncan (20:54); 100. Jamillah Titus (21:32); 105. Emily Joller (21:58).