Sept. 14, 2017
SAN DIEGO -
Meet Information | ="">Live Results | Notes
After a solid start to the year, San Diego State cross country heads to the UC Riverside Invitational (6K) on Sat., Sept. 16 at the UCR Ag Ops Course.
The women's 5K invitational will start at 7:30 a.m. PT and follows the men's invitational 8K, which is set for 8:05 a.m. PT. The meet will once be held at UCR Agricultural Operations Course.
The meet will be held at the UCR AgOps Course, which is adjacent to the UCR campus on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Canyon Crest Drive. General parking is available at UCR Lot 30 for $5. From the 215/60 freeway, exit Martin Luther King and go west. Pass through the Canyon Crest traffic light and make a right into UCR Lot 30.
The UC Riverside course is mostly flat with a few rolling hills, winding through orange groves and eucalyptus trees. It has hard-packed dirt with pre-competition watering to reduce dust.
The Aztecs and host Highlanders will be joined by squads from Cal State L.A., UC Irvine, UC Davis, Fort Lewis College, Sacramento State, Chico State, Arkansas, USC, Loyola Marymount, Southern Utah, Alabama, Cal State Fullerton, Utah Valley, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State San Marcos, Cal Tech, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Chapman, Cal State Long Beach, Biola, Pepperdine, Pacific, Cal State San Bernadino, Fresno Pacific and Cal Coast Track Club, as well as some unattached athletes.
Entered into the race for SDSU are Chrissy Calain, Cindy Flores, Mackenzie Mora, Renee Phillips and Lily Seynaeve.
At the meet's 2016 iteration, nearly every member of the Aztecs 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. Senior Christine 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.
Last Time Out
San Diego State cross country produced a solid effort in its first meet of the year, yielding a top 10 finisher and placing third in the Mark Covert Classic (5K), hosted by Cal State Fullerton, on Sat., Sept. 2.
"The team worked well together," SDSU head distance coach Robert Lusitana said. "The freshmen contributed strongly by staying in a pack alongside the seniors. It was a great start to what is going to be an exciting season. With little to no room for error, the Aztecs proved today that there isn't always power in numbers but power in drive and teamwork."
Senior Lily Seynaeve was SDSU's top finisher at the meet, which saw temperatures in the 80s by the time the race began at 8:45 a.m. She clocked in at 18:51.6 to take seventh among collegiate athletes. Her time was 13.2 seconds faster than her finish at the 2016 Mark Covert Classic (19:04.8).
Classmate Cindy Flores crossed the 5K finish line in 19:43.2 for 25th and, making her collegiate debut, Renee Phillips was 26th with a 19:44.5 time. First-year Aztec Mackenzie Mora logged a 19:54.4 time (33rd) and junior Chrissy Calain rounded out the group at 21:13.8 (60th).
Appearing at the meet for the fifth-straight year, SDSU took third with 87 points behind race-winner Loyola Marymount (29) and the host Titans (30). San Diego (93) also competed. The Aztecs averaged a 19:53.50 5K time with a total time of 1:39.27.