CLAREMONT, Calif. – Natalie Rodriguez and Steven Terris led the way for the Cal State San Marcos cross country teams at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite on Saturday, with the women finishing second in the 6,000-meter race and men placing fourth in the 8,000-meter race.

"It was nice to have Natalie back (from injury) and Steven did an excellent job," said head coach Steve Scott.

In her first race of the season, Rodriguez (22:12.65) paced the women's squad with a time of 22:12.65 to finish eighth overall. The women registered 74 points to take the runner-up position behind California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) rival Cal Poly Pomona's 51 points. The Broncos are ranked seventh in the West Region and received votes in the most recent top 25 polling by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Claremont-Mudd-Scripps finished third with 92 points.

"The way our schedule is set up we've started tapering (and) did not have the grouping one through five we would have liked," Scott said. "The women need to rest up as we head into the next race."

Rodriguez was joined in the top 20 by Anahi Soriano, who finished 12^th overall with a time of 22:30.24. The group of Terra McGinnis (22:45.14), Rachel Brady (22:46.63) and Cristen Lane (22:49.62) took the 17^th through 19^th spots respectively to round out the scoring for the Cougars.

Overall, eight Cougars finished in the top 25 with Shelby Eberwein (22:50.94) placing 21^st and Charlotte Kuzminsky (22:58.94) and Arianna Garcia-Swantek (22:59.19) finishing 24^th and 25^th respectively.

Terris continued his strong freshman campaign for the men's squad, finishing 13^th overall with a time of 25:49.46. The men's team scored 101 points to finish in fourth place. Seventh-ranked Cal Poly Pomona placed five runners in the top nine to finish first with 22 point. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took runner-up honors with 63 points and host Pomona-Pitzer finished third with 101 points, placing ahead of CSUSM due to a tie-breaker.

Trent Warren, who has battled an illness all week, finished just behind Terris placing 14^th overall with a time of 25:54.66. Michael Waltrip also finished in the top 20 for the Cougars, placing 17^th overall with a time of 26:00.34.

"Steven and Michael did excellent and Trent did his best (while) running sick," Scott said. "We were pretty banged up heading into the race."

Justin Washington (26:18.11) finished 28^th and Ryan Maize (26:23.70) placed 34^th to complete the top five for the Cougars. Zach Laurenzana (26:41.36) and Caesar Castillo (26:50.52), running with a toe injury, finished 44^th and 55^th respectively to complete the tie-breaker scoring for the event.

Next up for the Cougars is the San Francisco State Invitational on Friday, Oct 9 at Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadow. This will be the first time the CSUSM cross country team will compete in the event hosted by their new CCAA rival.

WOMEN'S 6K TEAM SCORES:
1. Cal Poly Pomona – 51
2. Cal State San Marcos – 74
3. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 82
4. The Master's College – 99
5. Westmont – 146
6. Redlands – 172
7. Pomona-Pitzer – 175
8. UC Santa Cruz – 200
9. Occidental – 272
10. Whittier College – 301
11. Chapman – 311
12. Cal Lutheran – 321
13. Soka – 380
14. Western New Mexico – 390
15. Caltech – 451

WOMEN'S 5K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 Runners of 191 + CSUSM Runners):
1. Karis Franklin (The Master's College) – 21:20.66
2. Maya Weigel (Pomona-Pitzer) – 21:32.01
3. Marissa Nickles (Cal Poly Pomona) – 21:50.12
4. Kelly Collins (Westmont) – 21:55.72
5. Lauren Roberts (Redlands) – 21:59.65
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8. Natalie Rodriguez (CSUSM) – 22:12.65
12. Anahi Soriano (CSUSM) – 22:30.24
17. Terra McGinnis (CSUSM) – 22:45.14
18. Rachel Brady (CSUSM) – 22:46.63
19. Cristen Lane (CSUSM) – 22:49.62
21. Shelby Eberwein (CSUSM) – 22:50.94
25. Charlotte Kuzminsky (CSUSM) – 22:58.94
25. Arianna Garcia-Swantek (CSUSM) – 18:37.52
29. Bailey Smith (CSUSM) – 23:07.53
30. Mandy Solorio (CSUSM) – 23:10.27
32. Salena Gallardo (CSUSM) – 23:13.23
39. Tina Girolamo (CSUSM) – 23:19.75
41. Alyssa Omahen (CSUSM) – 23:22.51
43. Aholibama Velazquez (CSUSM) – 23:25.27
58. Paula Stonehouse (CSUSM) – 23:43.53
93. Lisa Flora (CSUSM) – 24:42.06
137. Jessica Silveira (CSUSM) – 26:00.73
148. Jocelyn Veyna (CSUSM) – 26:23.80

MEN'S 8K TEAM SCORES:
1. Cal Poly Pomona – 22
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 63
3. Pomona-Pitzer – 101 (win tie-breaker)
4. Cal State San Marcos – 101
5. The Master's College – 154
6. Occidental – 224
7. Redlands – 251
8. Whittier College – 269
9. Westmont – 270
10. UC Santa Cruz – 294
11. Caltech – 299
12. Vanguard – 332
13. Cal Lutheran – 358
14. Chapman – 364
15. Western New Mexico – 365
16. Soka – 410
 
MEN'S 8K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 of 165 Runners + CSUSM Runners):
1. Mark Huizar (Cal Poly Pomona) – 24:52.74
2. Francisco Gomez (Cal Poly Pomona) – 24:52.83
3. John Fowler (Pomona-Pitzer) – 24:56.68
4. Ruben Dominguez (Cal Poly Pomona) – 25:11.65
5. Zorg Loustalet (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) – 25:15.05
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13. Steven Terris (CSUSM) – 25:49.46
14. Trent Warren (CSUSM) – 25:54.66
17. Michael Waltrip (CSUSM) – 26:00.34
28. Justin Washington (CSUSM) – 26:18.11
34. Ryan Maize (CSUSM) – 26:23.70
44. Zach Laurenzana (CSUSM) – 26:41.36
55. Caesar Castillo (CSUSM) – 26:50.52
56. Joe Gonzalez (CSUM) – 26:52.06
65. Chris Ceja (CSUSM) – 27:05.10
70. Steven Ing (CSUSM) – 27:14.59
83. Alex Gronotte (CSUSM) – 27:30.62
86. Anthony Girolamo (CSUSM) – 27:37.06
106. A.J. Freund (CSUSM) – 28:06.85
116. Eric Constante (CSUSM) – 28:25.88