Sept. 19, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
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Aztecs Set for Big Wave Cross Country Invitational in Hawaii
San Diego State travels to the Aloha State this week for the seventh annual Big Wave Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Kaneohe Kipper Golf Course on Hawaii's Marine Corps Base. The 4K race set for a 7:50 a.m. HT start will be the one and only for the Aztecs this season and will be their first trip to Hawaii since the 2003 season.
SDSU is coming off an 11th-place showing at its own Aztec Invitational on Sept. 15, where two Aztecs set personal records and six established new season-best times. The meet was the first of two scheduled for the city of San Diego as SDSU will play host to the Mountain West Conference Championships at Mission Bay on Oct. 27.
Up next for the Scarlet and Black are a pair of races on Saturday, Sept. 29. The Aztecs will divide their squad with the first team headed to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational, while the second team will travel north on Interstate 15 and compete in the UC Riverside Invitational.
A Return to Paradise
The Aztecs hope a return to Hawaii will produce similar or even better results than the last time they visited back in 2003. That season, San Diego State finished in a tie for third place with Navy after it placed two in the top 20 and their whole team in the top 50. SDSU finished behind then No. 24 UCLA and then top-ranked and defending national champion Brigham Young and was followed, along with Navy, by Houston. Marie Nilsson was the Aztecs' top finisher after coming in seventh with a 4K-time of 14:08.00.
A New PR is Great PR
Anne Vieira continued her impressive racing as she posted another personal record for a second straight week. After only competing in four meets last season, the junior came out and ran a personal-record 20:32.50 at the Fullerton Season Opener on Sept. 1, surpassing her previous record of 20:59.10. Then this past weekend at historic Balboa Park, the San Diego native just barely eclipsed her PR from the week before when she finished the 5K Carbon Canyon Regional Park course in 20:32.00. In each of her three races at the Aztec Invitational, Vieira has bettered her mark every time. In 2005, she ran 21:35.00 and last year she crossed the finish line in 22:15.00 before her top effort this year.
Upperclassmen Pulling the Load
With such a young squad, the Aztecs are relying on their upperclassmen to carry the load and that is exactly what they have done to this point. After two races, senior Lisa Naucler and juniors Kristin Glen and Alyssa Robinson have finished among the team's top-five performers with Anne Vieira improving each week. So far, Naucler has been SDSU's elite runner with Glen posting a second- and third-place effort and Robinson registering a third- and fourth-place performance through two meets.
What a Difference a Year Makes
For three Aztecs, Stephanie Armstrong, Darien Buc and Anne Vieira, a year made all the difference in the world as they shattered their Aztec Invitational times from a season ago.
As a freshman, Armstrong finished the race in 62nd place with a time of 20:30.00, but came back this past Saturday with a season under her belt and shaved off 1:01 in crossing the finish line in at 19:29.00.
Buc, a sophomore, was 1:14 faster (20:02.00) than her time of 21:16.00 in the 2006 Aztec Invitational Open meet. Her effort was also 59 seconds better than her first race of the season at the Fullerton Season Opener and was 31 seconds faster than her previous PR established as a freshman.
Vieira showed the most dramatic improvement of the group as she was able to out forth an effort that was 1:43 faster than what she accomplished in the 2006 open race.
Records Surpassed
SDSU had 14 athletes compete at the Aztec Invitational on Saturday with eight setting either a personal record or a new season best marking the second straight season in which over half of the team showed dramatic time improvements from the previous meet. Headlining the group were Darien Buc and Anne Vieira who both set personal records in the 5K with times of 20:02 and 20:32, respectively. Those who ran season best times include three sophomores in Stephanie Armstrong (19:29.00), Makenzie Mabry (20:26.00) and Lindsay Barajas (20:59.00 - Open meet) and a trio of first-year Aztecs in Sara Cunningham (20:44.00), Elizabeth Leonard (20:53.00), and Lindsey Deane (22:20.00 - Open meet).