Aug. 30, 2008
BREA, Calif. - San Diego State opened the 2008 cross country campaign with a fifth-place effort at the Fullerton Season Opener Saturday morning at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif. The Aztecs' top-10 season-opening performance was their ninth in the last 10 years at the annual meet hosted by Cal State Fullerton.
Junior newcomer Alma Escobar led SDSU in her first meet as an Aztec by completing the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 1.90 seconds, to finish in 18th place. Her time was almost 12 seconds faster than last season's top finisher in Lisa Naucler, who posted a 25th-place time of 19:13.80. Additionally, Escobar's effort would have ranked fourth on SDSU's 5K performance list from a year ago.
Rachel Williams, another junior newcomer and teammate of Escobar at Concordia University last season, logged San Diego State's second-best time by finishing the race in 19:07.30, good for 22nd place. Another junior college transfer who is in her second season at SDSU, co-captain Kristin Glen, crossed the finish line third for the Aztecs, and 29th overall, with a time of 19:19.00.
Sophomore Sara Beyers enjoyed her best meet of her young SDSU career by establishing a personal-record time of 19:29.90 (34th). The Danville, Calif., native shattered her previous PR of 19:51.80 at the 2007 UC Riverside Invitational by more than 22 seconds and eclipsed her Fullerton Season Opener performance from last year by over one minute when she finished with a time of 20:34.40.
Rounding out the top-7 scoring athletes were junior Darien Buc, sophomore Michelle Martinez and junior Sara Cunningham, who all bested their times at the meet from a year ago. Buc came in 36th place and posted a time of 19:37.90 after logging a time of 21:01.40 last year. Martinez, meanwhile, finished in 44th with a time of 19:49.80 after running 21:04.90 in 2007. Lastly, Cunningham came in 48th after conquering the course in 19:55.20, 12 months after recording a time of 21:05.50.
Finishing just outside the scoring seven was senior co-captain Anne Vieira. The San Diego product turned in a time of 20:24.30, which was good for 61st place. Fellow senior Alyssa Robinson finished right behind Vieira in 62nd place with time of 20:25.80.
Other Aztecs to complete the race were senior Kelly Oelschlager (20:31.60), freshman Melissa Bunn (20:47.00), sophomore Lyndsi Riley (20:52.90), redshirt freshman Amy Brown (21:15.80) and junior Makenzie Mabry (21:30.90).
Overall, seven SDSU runners improved their times from a year ago. In addition, San Diego State's top seven athletes finished the race inside 19:54, compared to last season when the top seven completed the race in 21:07.
The Aztecs finished with 125 points, one point behind fourth-place Cal State Fullerton (124). Long Beach State won the 15-team meet with 82 points and was followed by Cal Coast Track Club (86), Cal State Los Angeles (90), the Titans and SDSU.
San Diego State will have next weekend off before playing host to the 64th annual Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Fullerton Season Opener
Carbon Canyon Regional Park (Brea, Calif.)
Top 5 of 15 (5,000-meter course)
1. Long Beach State - 82
2. Cal Coast Track Club - 86
3. Cal State Los Angeles - 90
4. Cal State Fullerton - 124
5. San Diego State - 125