Long Beach State University Athletics
Cross country travels to San Diego for Aztec Invitational
9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 16, 2010
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach State cross country team travels down to San Diego for its second meet of the season as the 49ers take part in the 66th annual Aztec Invitational hosted by San Diego State.
The women's 5,000-meter race is scheduled for an 8:45 a.m. start, while the men's 8,000-meter meet is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. Both races will take place in Balboa Park.
LBSU is coming off a strong start to the season as both men's and women's teams recorded second place finishes at the Fullerton Season Opener two weeks ago. Junior Alisia Barajas was the top runner for the women's team as she finished in seventh place (22:41), while fellow classmate Matt Maldonado led the way for the men's squad as he crossed the finish line in 14th (26:15).
At last year's Aztec Invitational, both teams placed third as the men's team recorded 77 points, while the women tallied 110. Junior Liz Ramos placed second as she recorded a personal-best in the 5K with a time of 18:32. Junior Raul Arcos crossed the line in seventh at 26:19.
"We're excited for this weekend's race as it's another step forward for our teams to improve and compete against other schools," 49er distance coach Patrick Cunniff said. "This meet gives some of our runners with less experience to gain some time to compete at the collegiate level and prepares both teams for the Stanford Invitational. Plus, we always enjoy coming down to San Diego as many as our runners are from the area and we always receive great support from family and friends!"
