Oct. 15, 2009
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State cross country team will travel to compete at the Northridge Invitational Friday (Oct. 16) in its final tune-up before the Mountain West Conference Championships (Oct. 31). The Aztecs are one of 10 teams scheduled to compete in the 4:45 p.m. PT start.
The meet, which will take place at the Wildlife/Cricket./Japanese Garden area of Balboa Park Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys, Calif., is the first hosted by Cal State Northridge in 22 years. The course starts on the east side of the cricket field and is located east of Woodley Ave., between Burbank and Victory Blvd. Spectators are encouraged to park in Lots 1 or 3, as the participating teams will park in Lot 2.
The women's 6,000-meter race is scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. PT. SDSU will be joined in the race by NCAA West Region powers UC Riverside (No. 11 in region) and UC Santa Barbara (No. 12 in region), and Cal State Los Angeles, the 25th-ranked team in Division II. Other teams scheduled to race include Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, the host Matadors, Occidental College, USC, Westmont College, and numerous club teams and unattached runners.
Last weekend, San Diego State finished seventh of 13 at the UC San Diego Triton Classic. Senior Rachel Williams (Mt. Hermon, Calif.) led the Aztecs with a 15th-place finish of 122 runners in a collegiate-best time of 23 minutes, 9.2 seconds over the 6K course. Her 33.4 second PR earned her MWC athlete of the week honors on Tuesday.
Freshman Marianne Hogan (Bedford, Quebec), (23:03.0), junior Michelle Martinez (Burbank, Calif.) (24:44.2), freshman Jordan Davis (Santa Rosa, Calif.) (24:54.1) and junior Sara Beyers (Danville, Calif.) (24:54.7) rounded out SDSU's top-five on Saturday.
San Diego State's MWC championship race in Provo, Utah, will begin at 10:45 a.m. MT on Oct. 31.