Sept. 27, 2008
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State cross country team had five runners establish personal records on a day where the first team raced at the Stanford Invitational and four ran as individuals at the UC Riverside Invite Saturday morning. Three personal bests were set on Stanford's 6,000-meter course, while two were recorded at Riverside's 5K.
"Even with our three personal records today (at Stanford), I feel the team still has not recovered from last week's travel from Hawaii," assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "I am looking forward to the upcoming off week so we can refocus and regroup heading into October."
On a warm Northern California morning, SDSU was led for the first time this year by senior Kristin Glen. A co-captain, Glen finished the competition in 23 minutes, 20 seconds, in her first 6K of the season. Not far behind Glen was sophomore Michelle Martinez, who navigated the course in personal-record fashion by crossing the finish line in 23:45, over a minute better than her previous PR of 24:49.30.
The third-fastest Aztec on the morning was junior Darien Buc, who logged a time of 23:54. The mark was not a personal record, but her time was an individual course best for the Dana Point, Calif., native after she completed the race in 24:00 a year ago.
Senior Kelly Oelschlager clocked in at 24:06 in her first 6K as an Aztec, while sophomore Sara Beyers put forth a personal-best effort of 24:11 in her first trip to Stanford. Prior to today, Beyers' 6K personal record was 25:38.80 accomplished in 2007.
Next across the finish line were a pair of runners who were competing for the first time on a 6K course while wearing the scarlet and black. Junior Rachel Williams posted a time of 24:23 and sophomore Andrea Norton clocked in at 24:49 to round out SDSU's top seven.
Junior Sara Cunningham was the third Aztec to set a personal record as she finished the race in 24:53, nearly 16 seconds better than her previous PR, and Anne Vieira came in at 25:33.
Closer to home at the UC Riverside Invitational, junior Makenzie Mabry led the Aztec charge with a season-best 5K time of 20:13.00. Freshman Melissa Bunn enjoyed her best day at SDSU with a personal-record performance of 20:23.90. Her effort erased her previous PR of 20:47.00 set earlier this year.
San Diego State's other two entries, senior Alyssa Robinson and freshman Leigh Rutherford, posted times of 21:03.00 and 22:30.60, respectively. Rutherford's effort was a personal record after besting her previous PR of 27:50.10.
In the end, the Aztecs finished in 22nd place out of 33 teams at the ultra-competitive Stanford Invitational, while the SDSU group at UCR did not record a team score.