Oct. 15, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Cross Country Weekly Release in PDF Format
San Diego State Heads North For Bronco Invitational
The Aztec cross country squad makes its second Northern California appearance of the season as it competes at the Bronco Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 18, in Sunnyvale, Calif. The meet will be the team's final tune-up prior to playing host to the Mountain West Conference Championships.
SDSU is set to compete on a 5,000-meter course at Baylands Regional Park, the site of the Aztecs' last team title, which came in 2005. In the last few years, San Diego State has experienced individual success as three set personal records while two others established Aztec career times at the 2007 invitational.
As stated earlier, the Bronco Invite will serve as the final competition of the season for SDSU before welcoming the eight other MWC institutions to Mission Bay Park. The league meet is slated for Nov. 1 and will feature high-quality racing as seven regionally ranked women's teams and four ranked men's squads will be appearing (regional rankings as of Oct. 13).
Glen Named MWC Athlete of the Week
Senior Kristin Glen was named Mountain West Conference Cross Country Athlete of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. The weekly award is the first of Glen's career and the first for SDSU this season.
The team co-captain is coming off a competition in which she led the Aztecs for a second consecutive meet. Glen raced to a 14th-place finish with a 6K-time of 22:57.70 at the Triton Classic and was one of three SDSU runners to place in the top 25.
The Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., native's 6K performance was more than 22 seconds faster than her previous 2008 best of 23:20.00, accomplished in her last outing at the Stanford Invitational.
Glen's 14th-place finish was her second best as an Aztec and was her best showing in a 5 or 6K. Prior to the Triton Classic, her top placing in a 5 or 6K event was 16th at the 2007 Cougar 5K Challenge, nearly one year ago.
Overall, Glen helped San Diego State to a third-place effort, a performance that was better than UC Irvine, the No. 14 team in the West Region.
Quartet Finds Success at Triton Classic
The San Diego State foursome of Darien Buc, Rachel Williams, Kelly Oelschlager and Sara Cunningham experienced success at UC San Diego's 6K course as they all established new personal records.
Buc, who posted SDSU's second-best time of 23:39.80, set a new personal record by just 0:00.90 seconds. Williams, meanwhile, completed the race in 23:42.60, erasing her old PR of 24:23.00 set in her last outing at the Stanford Invitational.
Much like Williams, Oelschlager and Cunningham also wiped away their personal records accomplished at Stanford with their effort at UCSD. Oelschlager navigated the course in 23:59.90 and Cunningham crossed the finish line in 24:21.10.
Running Faster Than Before
All season long, San Diego State has run faster at the same meets this year than a year ago and the trend continued at the Triton Classic.
Going into the race, only three Aztecs had competed at UC San Diego's 6K. Michelle Martinez, Cunningham and Sara Beyers led SDSU to an eighth-place finish in 2007 with times of 24:49.00, 25:08.00 and 25:38.00, respectively.
This year, however, Martinez clocked in at 24:32.20, nearly 17 seconds faster than last season and Cunningham posted a personal record as previously mentioned. Lastly, Beyers might have had the most impressive showing as far as time, comparatively speaking. The sophomore shaved off nearly 1:06 from 2007 to post a time of 24:32.40.
Last year at The Bronco Invitational
San Diego State had three Aztecs set lifetime bests, while two others posted SDSU career bests at the 2007 Bronco Invitational.
The Aztecs were led for a fifth straight meet by senior Lisa Naucler who finished with a time of 18 minutes 27 seconds, but it was the next three athletes that put forth personal-best efforts.
Stephanie Armstrong completed the race in 18:45 surpassing her previous PR by 18 seconds, while Darien Buc easily erased her old lifetime best accomplished at the 2007 Aztec Invitational by 50 seconds after she clocked in at 19:12.
Completing the trio was Anne Vieira, who turned in a performance of 19:15. More impressive was the fact that she shattered her old PR of 20:32.00 by 1:17.
The next two to cross the finish line, Kristin Glen and Alyssa Robinson, each recorded SDSU career bests. Glen registered a time of 19:16, while Robinson finished with a time of 19:28, an effort 30 seconds faster than her Aztec best at the Fullerton Season Opener.
Makenzie Mabry, Michelle Martinez and Andrea Norton rounded out the San Diego State group. Mabry turned in a time of 19:51, while Martinez, who was running with the `A' team for the first time of her career, clocked in at 20:14. Norton finished the race in 20:31.