CLAREMONT, Calif. – Senior
Kate Bouvatte placed first overall to lead the 10th-ranked Cal State San Marcos women's cross country team to victory at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.
"The women had a very strong race. Last year at this time, they were ranked third in NAIA national rankings and the women topped their performance from about 30 seconds from last year," said head coach
Steve Scott. "I'm extremely please to have seen that."
In the 6K race, the Cougars collected 49 points and defeated second place Azusa Pacific by 39 points. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finished third at 97, followed by The Master's College (116) and Westmont (136).
Bouvatte won the race in a time of 21:39.1, beating The Mater's College's Karis Frankian by only eight seconds. Sophomore
Raelyn Werley (22:31.0) and
Natalie Rodriguez (22:35.2) both joined Bouvatte in the top 10, placing seventh and ninth respectively.
"I've said to my teams that this is about the time in the season where we are going to be seeing people start improving exponentially," Scott said. "It really showed during this race and will continue to show over the next few weeks."
After a weekend off, CSUSM hosts the Cougar Challenge Saturday, Oct. 18 at Mangrum Track.
TEAM SCORES: 1. Cal State San Marcos – 49; 2. Azusa Pacific – 88; 3. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 97; 4. The Master's – 116; 5. Westmont – 136; 6. Cal Poly Pomona – 174; 7. Pomona-Pitzer – 179; Redlands – 211; 9. Colorado College – 229;10. Cal Lutheran – 272; 11. Chapman – 307; 12. Cal State Bakersfield – 317; 13. Vanguard – 358; 14. Caltech – 434; 15. Marymount College – 442; 16. Whittier – 450; 17. Soka – 498
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: 1. Kate Bouvatte (CSUSM) – 21:39.1; 2. Karis Frankian (The Master's) – 21:47.1; 3. Staci Foster (APU) – 22:12.6; 4. Kelly Collins (Westmont) – 22:15.8; 5. Della Lyle (Redlands) – 22:22.9: 6. Eileen Stressling (APU) – 22:28.1;
7. Raelyn Werley (CSUSM) – 22:31.0; 8. Maya Weigel (PP) – 22:34.9;
9. Natalie Rodriguez (CSUSM) – 22:35.2; 10. Corinne Cherne (Westmont) – 22:39.1;
OTHERS INCLUDED: 11. Salena Gallardo (CSUSM) 22:43.9; 22. Anahi Soriano (CSUSM) – 23:10.6; 24. Charlotte Kuzminsky (CSUSM) – 23:14.2; 29. Paula Stonehouse (CSUSM) – 23:25.2; 37. Cristen Lane (CSUSM) – 23:36.7; 40. Alyssa Omahen (CSUSM) 23:44.1; 42. Lauren Cortez (CSUSM) – 23:46.3; 44. Terra McGinnis (CSUSM) – 23:47.5; 53. Bailey Smith (CSUSM) – 24:02.1; 59. Meghan Hamlin (CSUSM) – 24:16.1; 62. Lauren Morabito (CSUSM) – 24:23.1; 66. Tina Girolamo (CSUSM) 24:28.7; 85. Shaina Pardo (CSUSM) – 25:00.0; 90. Mandy Solorio (CSUSM) – 25:11.2; 109. Diana Rubalcava (CSUSM) – 25:47.0; 128. Ashley Sanchez (CSUSM) – 26:29.9; 131. Danielle Tildahl (CSUSM) – 26:41.8; 142. Jenny Veyna (CSUSM) – 27:23.5; 144. Jocelyn Veyna (CSUSM) – 27:25.7; 159. Arianna Martinez (CSUSM) – 28:08.0; 173. Jennifer Morales (CSUSM) – 29:40.2;
