Sept. 17, 2016
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Nearly every member of the San Diego State cross country team that competed at the UC Riverside Invitational recorded her collegiate best en route to a fifth place team finish at the 6,000-meter race in Riverside, Calif., on Saturday morning.
"The team performed phenomenally today," SDSU assistant coach Karoly Varga said. "We had some really tough competition and big teams like Arkansas. This meet is always a good test of where we are and we're very happy with our performance."
For the second consecutive race, seniors Christine Kent and Elaine Ribiero were the Aztecs' top finishers. Kent finished 11th out of 83 NCAA Division I runners with a time of 20 minutes, 47.8 seconds, running a PR that was nearly one-and-a-half minutes better than her previous PR (22:14) and breaking San Diego State's 6K record of 21:04.0, set by Marie Nilsson on Nov. 15, 2003.
"Christine was outstanding today," Varga said. "She has really stepped it up and has started believing that she can compete at NCAA Regionals. She did really great."
"I've been training hard and doing the little things, so I felt really strong coming into the race today," Kent said. "I started to feel some of that pay off today, and I felt like I was able to maintain with the top pack as besst as I could. I'm proud of the work my teammates and I put out today and I'm excited to see what we can do this season."
Ribiero crossed the finish line in 22 minutes, 21.5 seconds for 23rd.
Rounding out San Diego State's top five and recording PRs were Cassidy Towner (21:38.0, 31st), Angel Bucci (21:44.1, 32nd) and Cali King (22:39.7, 55th), who bested her PR by over one minute.
Also competing for the Aztecs were Mary Kunigan (22:34.0 PR, 59th) and Cindy Flores (23:18.8 PR, 66th).
San Diego State finished fifth out of eight NCAA Division I teams with 148 points behind Arkansas (28), Cal Poly (47), Utah Valley (142) and UC Riverside (148). Rounding out the group was UC Irvine (6th, 214), Cal State Northridge (7th, 251) and Long Beach State (8th, 355).
Next on tap for the Aztecs is the 72nd Annual Aztec Invitational on Fri., Sept. 23. For the third consecutive year, the Aztec Invitational will take place at San Diego Mission Bay's Tecolote Shores North Park. Last season, SDSU won the five-team 5,000-meter Division I race with 41 points, defeating San Diego (46), UNLV (59), USC (93) and Pepperdine (105). Said Varga, "Because it's a home meet, we always try to win it. We're going to be ready and will do our best to get the win."
UC Riverside Highlander Invitational
UCR Agricultural Operations Course - Riverside, Calif.
September 17, 2016
6,000-Meter Women's NCAA Division I Team Results (Top 8 of 20 teams)
1. Arkansas - 28
2. Cal Poly -47
3. Utah Valley - 142
4. UC Riverside - 148
5. San Diego State -148
6. UC Irvine - 214
7. Cal State Northridge - 251
8. Long Beach State - 355
6,000-Meter Women's NCAA Division I Individual Results (Top 5 of 83 runners + SDSU)
1. Peyton Bilo (Cal Poly) - 20:05.4
2. Valerie Reina (Arkansas) - 20:27.3
3. Abby Gray (Arkansas) - 20:27.4
4. Carina Viljoen (Arkansas) - 20:30.6
5. Morgin Coonfield (Cal Poly) - 20:33.35
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11. Christine Kent (SDSU) - 20:47.8
23. Elaine Ribeiro (SDSU) - 21:22.5
31. Cassidy Towner (SDSU) - 21:38.0
32. Angel Bucci (SDSU) - 21:44.1
55. Cali King (SDSU) - 22:39.7
59. Mary Kunigan (SDSU) - 22:53.0
66. Cindy Flores (SDSU) - 23:18.8