Long Beach State University
Big West Championships
Women finish third, men fourth at Big West Championships
10/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 30, 2010
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The Long Beach State men's and women's cross country teams completed the Big West Conference Championships on a wet and muddy Saturday morning at UC Riverside's Agricultural Operations Course. The 49ers finished in third place in the women's 6,000-meter race, recording 72 points while the men's team placed fourth in the men's 8,000-meter meet, tallying 76 points, just 12 points from first place.
It was the highest finish for both teams as the women's squad finished in second place in 2006 and the men's team placed fourth in 2007.
UC Santa Barbara claimed the women's team title for the second consecutive year, recording 35 points, followed by Cal Poly in second with 37 points. UC Riverside (117) finished in fourth, with UC Davis (144) in fifth, followed by UC Irvine (149) and Cal State Fullerton (154).
UC Davis captured their first men's cross country title as the Aggies won by two points, 64-66, over second place UC Riverside. UC Santa Barbara placed third with 70 points, Cal Poly (90) in fifth and UC Irvine (119) in sixth.
Junior Rosa Del Toro was the top runner for LBSU, crossing the finish line in ninth with a personal-best of 20:56.6. Senior Jennifer Rodriguez followed close behind finishing in 11th at 21:04.5 and junior Lenore Moreno placing 12th at 21:09.6. Both Rodriguez and Moreno recorded personal-bests in the 6K.
Junior Alisia Barajas finished fourth for the 49ers, placing 18th (21:22.2), followed by sophomores Nina Moore (21:28.8) and Prism Garcia (22:38.4) recording personal-bests, finishing in 22nd and 50th respectively.
Junior Veronica Franco (58th) crossed the finish line at 23:10.6, while freshman Kelly Caulfield (60th) finished with a mark of 23:22.2. Both runners recorded personal-best in Saturday's 6K run.
Amanda Moreno of UCSB captured first place, recording a course and Big West record time of 19:57.0, a little over 12 seconds better than the previous mark.
On the men's side, LBSU was paced by junior Matt Maldonado, finishing in fourth at 24:27.2. Sophomore Bret Hasvold placed eighth (24:37.1) and senior Josh Ruff in 11th (24:41.1). Hasvold beat his previous best in the 8K by 10 seconds, while Ruff eclipsed his record by nine seconds.
Freshman Heath Reedy crossed the finish line in 26th (25:06.3), with senior Steven DeCastro close behind in 27th (25:09.2), sophomore Jared Long in 31st (25:18.4) and freshman Andrew Garcia placed 38th (25:33.6).
John Peterson of UC Davis was the individual champion in the men's 8K run (23:40.2).
"We're kind of disappointed (with the women's results)," 49er distance coach Patrick Cunniff said. "We really ran in a strong pact all year, then today it kind of fell apart on us a little bit in the second half of the race. The girls really ran hard, but just didn't have their best day. And now, we just have to regroup and get ready for regionals and run the way that we're capable of doing,"
"We are incredibly proud on how the men competed," Cunniff added. "They were really in the race and ran hard. Every guy gave his best. We came in ranked fifth and came within 12 points in winning the meet. I thought it was our best team performance in my four years here, so great job to the men's team."
The 49ers return to action on Nov. 13, traveling to Springfield, Ore. for the NCAA West Regional.
Players Mentioned
