| 49ers
Fare Well in Last Meet Before Conference Championships
Blalock and Benouar Lead 49ers at Titan Invite as
Teams Prepare for Big West Championships
October 20, 2006
FULLERTON, CA --In their last meet before the conference championships,
the Long Beach State women’s cross country team finished third (96),
while the men ran three individual runners at the Titan Invite on Friday
afternoon.
The women’s team was composed of a mix of athletes from both the
first and second groups of runners. Nicole Blalock, one of LBSU’s
top-five runners, was using the meet to prepare for the Big West Championships.
Blalock was the top-finisher for Long Beach State and was the first collegiate
finisher in the meet, with a time of 18:21 (4th overall).
“The women ran really solid today, and this was a great tune-up
for Nicole,” said third-year Distance Coach Matt Roe.
Cheryl Bube also had an outstanding race as she finished with a time of
18:21, which was good enough for fifth place overall. She improved her
time by 22 seconds from last year’s performance at Cal State Fullerton.
“This was Cheryl’s best race in uniform for us by far,”
said Roe. “She ran really well here last year and was able to improve
upon her performance this year.”
On the men’s side, Long Beach State ran three individual runners.
Samir Benouar was LBSU’s top-finisher with a time of 27:36, which
placed him 28th overall in the race. Steve Cardinalli finished 43rd (28:15),
and Kevin Word placed 49th with a time of 28:36. The men’s 8K course
was slightly longer than it should have been.
“Our goal on this course is always to run fast and achieve personal
bests, but the course was about a minute and a half long this year,”
said Roe.
The 49ers next meet will be the Big West Championships on Saturday, October
28 at the Fairbanks Course in San Luis Obispo. Following the conference
championships will be the NCAA West Regionals on Saturday, November 11
at Blue Lake Park in Portland, OR.
MEN'S 8K FROM LBSU
1. UC Santa Barbara (29), 2. Cal State San Marcos (58), 3. Cal Coast Track
Club (82), 4. UC Irvine (111), 5. Orange Coast (139).
INDIVIDUAL 49ERS
Overall Winner: Juan Mejia, Cal State San Marcos (25:49); 28.
Samir Benouar (27:36), 43. Steve Cardinalli (28:15), 49. Kevin Word (28:36).
WOMEN'S 5K
1. Cal Coast Track Club (37), 2. UC Santa Barbara (52), 3. LONG
BEACH STATE (96), 4. Cal State San Marcos (106), 5. USC (109).
INDIVIDUAL 49ERS
Overall Winner: Jenni Johnson, Cal Coast Track Club (17:26);
4. Nicole Blalock (18:21), 5. Cheryl Bube (18:31), 21. Missy Barclay (18:54),
26. Jennifer Rodriguez (19:01), 58. Julia Gordon (19:59).
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