Oct. 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Cross Country Weekly Release in PDF Format
Aztecs Return to Action This Week at Triton Classic
The San Diego State cross country team returns from a bye week to race at the Triton Classic on Saturday, Oct. 11, at nearby UC San Diego. The 6,000-meter competition is set to begin at 10:15 a.m. PT on the La Jolla, Calif., campus.
SDSU will compete on a course that includes varied terrain on grass and dirt trails with sidewalk. The race is scheduled to start at UCSD's North Campus Athletic Fields and end on the Triton Track. In the past, the meet has brought outstanding racing with teams representing all divisions of college athletics from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and all of California, to San Diego County to compete for the Classic title.
SDSU, which has not raced since Sept. 27, will be in Sunnyvale, Calif., next weekend for the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 18. The invitational will be the last for the Aztecs before playing host to the Mountain West Conference Championships at Mission Bay Park on Nov. 1.
Glen Posts Top Time For First Time In 2008
For the first time this season, senior co-captain Kristin Glen recorded the team's fastest time at a meet after completing the Stanford Invitational in 23 minutes, 20 seconds.
Glen has consistently produced solid times in her final year on campus as she has finished among the team's top three in all four races to date. So far, Glen has finished third on the team once (Fullerton Season Opener), second twice (Aztec Invitational, Big Wave Invitational) and first on one occasion (Stanford Invite).
Martinez Making Her Way Up the Ladder
Sophomore Michelle Martinez is becoming a staple near the top of the San Diego State results list. In four first-team meets this season, Martinez has finished among the team's top-three twice, with those performances coming at the Aztec (third) and Stanford (third) Invitationals.
Martinez has finished with SDSU's sixth-fastest time on two occasions with the most recent one coming at the Big Wave Invitational. Just making the trip to Hawaii was an accomplishment in itself as only the team's top seven runners were selected to the travel squad that week. The 4K race in the nation's 50th state was the first for Martinez as a member of SDSU.
The Burbank, Calif., native has already established new personal records in both the 5K and 6K with the most impressive being her 6K time. Last year, Martinez's best 6K was clocked at 24:49.30, but has already run that distance in 23:45.00 this season. In the 5K, Martinez finished with a PR of 19:15.20 in 2007 and has erased that figure with a time of 19:13.00 earlier this year at the Aztec Invitational.
New Records Set For Trio on the Farm
During San Diego State's trip to Stanford, three additional Aztecs set records of different sorts on that warm Northern California morning.
Junior Darien Buc logged a time of 23:54 to set a new personal course record. Prior to this season, Buc completed the race in a then personal-record 24:00.
The remaining two to enjoy personal-best days were a pair of Saras - Sara Beyers and Sara Cunningham. Beyers eclipsed her previous PR of 25:38.80 set in 2007 and replaced it with a time of 24:11. Cunningham, meanwhile, was 16 seconds faster than her old PR by navigating the course in 24:53.
Reliving the UC Riverside Invitational
While the SDSU first team was competing at the Stanford Invite, four Aztec runners got some work in at the 5K UC Riverside Invitational.
Junior Makenzie Mabry led the way for San Diego State with a season-best performance of 20:13.00, while freshman Melissa Bunn enjoyed her best day as an Aztec with a personal-record run of 20:23.90.
As for the other two SDSU athletes competing, senior Alyssa Robinson posted a time of 21:03.00, while freshman Leigh Rutherford clocked in with a personal-best effort of 27:50.10 in just her second meet as a collegian and first since Aug. 30 at the Fullerton Season Opener.
San Diego State finished with no team score as it did not send the required amount of runners to field a team score.
Last year at The Triton Classic
Last season, the San Diego State cross country `B' team made the short trip north to compete in the Triton Classic and finished the 6K in eighth place after earning 236 points.
SDSU, which had five runners finish within 57 seconds of each other, was led by then freshman Michelle Martinez, who came in 50th place after crossing the finish line in 24:49. Martinez, like the majority of her teammates, was competing in her first 6K of her collegiate career.
Other Aztecs who raced on that day were Sara Cunningham and Sara Beyers. Cunningham recorded a 58th-place time of 25:08, while Beyers navigated the course in 25:38 to finish in 71st.