Sept. 3, 2005
FULLERTON, Calif. - The San Diego State women's cross country team opened its season with an impressive second-place finish Saturday at the Fullerton Season Opener at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton, Calif. The Aztecs tallied 100 points at the 26-team meet, which was won by UCLA (90 points).
"I thought we ran very well together as a group," assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "I was very happy with everyone's effort today. Our top six runners were only 49 seconds apart which is very, very good."
SDSU was led individually by junior Lisa Crampton (Livermore, Calif.) with a 19:11 clocking in the 5K race. The transfer from Belmont University paced the scarlet and black with a ninth-place finish.
Four other Aztecs placed in the top 40 including sophomore Lisa Naucler (17th, 19:33), junior Celeste Tyson (18th, 19:34), senior Christal Cuadra (21st, 19:37) and junior Sarah Belger (35th, 19:55).
Other SDSU finishers included juniors Sara Cates (55th, 20:31), Lisa Marchini (96th, 21:12), Alison Baker (111th, 21:30), sophomore Briana Powell (119th, 21:40), junior Dora Sanders (141st, 22:06), and sophomore Anne Vieira (148th, 22:12)
In addition to the Aztecs' strong performance, sophomore Lital Azulay (Holon, Israel), who ran unattached, logged a time of 19:05 for a third-place finish in the open division.
The Aztecs will have the next two weeks off before hosting the 61st annual Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park beginning at 8 a.m.
Final Team Standings-- Women's Collegiate (top 6): 1. UCLA, 90; 2. San Diego State, 100; 3. Loyola Marymount, 115; 4. Cal State Fullerton, 120; 5. Concordia, 152; 6. Southern Utah, 166.