Hundreds of runners and spectators descended upon Mangrum Track & Soccer Field on Saturday and watched as the CSUSM men's and women's cross-country teams won the 2009 Cougar 5K/8K Challenge!
The event, which is part of the USATF Dirt Dawg Series, took place on a winding course that started on Mangrum Field and led runners through the University's "front yard," around the dirt parking lots, up Craven Drive, and back onto the field. Entry was open to everyone, as local runners competed with collegiate teams from California Baptist, Soka University, Southwestern (AZ), and of course Cal State San Marcos.
In the 5k competition, the #2-ranked Cougar squad carried the collegiate race, taking spots 1 through 7. The team finished in a group led by Dallon Williams, who timed in at 18:08. Cady Villarreal and Whitney Patton finished in 18:09, Lindsey McKown at 18:10, Jessica Sandoval at 18:19, Kelly Thompson at 18:20, and Jennifer Albright at 18:30.
Also competing for the Cougars were Suzanne Scrimenti (9th; 18:34), Melissa Olmos (10th; 18:54), Jenna Nicholl (13th; 19:44), Brooke Smith (15th; 19:56), Reyna Gutierrez (17th; 20:04), Justine Lazare (19th; 20:11), Laura Heuring (25th; 20:38), Kimberly Rowland (26th; 20:41), Claire Hauso (27th; 20:49), and Christina Cooper (28th; 21:09).
CSUSM finished with a team score of 15 - the best possible score in cross-country. Cal Baptist finished second with a score of 50, and Soka finished third with a score of 83.
Overall in the 5k competition, the race was won by Joey Bonfiglio with a time of 17:26. Former Cougar All-American Anne Marie Byrne finished second at 17:33, and an All-American from last season, Morgan Sjogren, took fourth at 17:57.
The men's 8K collegiate competition was much more tense, as the Cougars pulled out a narrow win over Cal Baptist. Led by Muluken Beressa and Dave Edwards, who finished first and second, respectively, CSUSM pulled out a team 24 to 31 win over CBU.
Beressa posted a blistering time of 24:39 to finish first among collegiate runners in the 8K, and Edwards was not far behind with an excellent 24:53. Chris Capeau took 4th with a time of 25:30, Chris Strasheim was 7th at 26:05, and Bernardo Bahena finished 10th at 26:32. The sixth and seventh spots on the team were occupied by Patrick Fitzgerald (11th; 26:38) and Casey Evans (14th; 27:21).
Also competing for the Cougar men's cross-country team were Miguel Vega (17th; 27:40), Mark Shimmin (18th; 27:44), Dave Slack (20th; 28:00), Thomas Polhill (23rd; 28:35), Antonio Sanchez (26th; 29:04), and Dimitri Eraditius (29th; 30:04).
In the overall 8k competition, Nazario Romero finished first at 24:27, narrowly edging out Beressa, who took second overall.
Cougar cross-country will be in action next Saturday at the Biola Invitational.
