RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos women's and men's cross country teams had strong showings in their NCAA Division II debuts at the UCR Cross Country Invite on Saturday, finishing third and seventh in their respective races.
 
"We performed really well, I was really happy with how the guys did overall," said head coach Steve Scott. "And the (women's result) I was extremely happy with.  We had 12 under 18:50, which is a great start."

The women's squad placed third in the 5000-meter Collegiate Open with 77 points, one point behind runner-up and new California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) rival Cal Poly Pomona. NCAA Division I Arkansas won with 21 points.
 
Bailey Smith led the way for the women's team, finishing 12th overall with a new 5K PR of 18:21.5. In their first collegiate races freshmen Rachel Brady (18:23.3) and Arianna Garcia-Swantek (18:25.7) finished 14th and 15th respectively. Salena Gallardo finished 17th with a time of 18:26.5, just 3.5 seconds off her personal-best, and Anahi Soriano (18:34.5) rounded out the scoring for the Cougars with a 19th place finish, missing a new personal-best by less than a second.

On the men's side, the Cougars registered 238 points to finish seventh in the 8000-meter Collegiate Invitational. Southern Utah won with 44 points, followed by runner-up UC Santa Barbara with 72 points and Cal Poly Pomona taking third with 100 points.
 
Newcomer Trent Warren paced the Cougars, finishing 22nd with a time of 24:48.9. Caesar Castillo finished 35th with a time of 25:12.3 and Enrique Ramirez time of 25:22.0 finished in 40th place. Freshman Steven Terris finished 60th in his first collegiate race with a time of 25:46.6. Justin Washington completed the scoring for the Cougars with placing 81st with a time of 26:10.4, more than 10 seconds better than he did on the same course last year.
 
In the men's 8,000-meter Collegiate Open, Michael Waltrip finished 11th out of 157 runners with a time of 26:05.9.
 
The next competition for the women's and men's teams will be The Mustang Challenge hosted by The Master's College in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Saturday, Sept. 19. 

WOMEN'S 5K OPEN TEAM SCORES:
1. Arkansas – 21
2. Cal Poly Pomona – 76
3. Cal St. San Marcos – 77
4. Cal Baptist – 103
5. Pomona-Pitzer – 170
6. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 176
7. Central Arizona – 230
8. Mesa CC – 268
9. Chapman – 273
10. Concordia (Calif.) – 295
11. Whittier – 303
12. Vanguard (Calif.) – 310
13. Cal Lutheran – 365
14. Pasadena – 384
15. La Verne – 425
16. Glendale CC – 443
17. Riverside – 480
 
WOMEN'S 5K OPEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 of 109 Scored Runners + CSUSM Scored Runners):
1. Claudia Verstraten (Arkansas) - 17:32.1
2. Sydney Brown (Arkansas) - 17:32.5
3. Nichwitz Rachel (Arkansas) - 17:33.8
4. Maya Weigel (Pomona-Pitzer) - 17:34.6
5. Marissa Nickles (Cal Poly Pomona) - 17:37.6
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12. Bailey Smith (CSUSM) – 18:21.5
14. Rachel Brady (CSUSM) – 18:23.3
15. Arianna Garcia-Swantek (CSUSM) – 18:25.7
17. Salena Gallardo (CSUSM) – 18:26.5
19. Anahi Soriano (CSUSM) – 18:34.5
(20) Shelby Eberwein (CSUSM) – 18:35.0
(22) Tina Girolamo (CSUSM) 18:38.7
 
MEN'S 8K INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES:
1. Southern Utah – 44
2. UC Santa Barbara – 72
3. Cal Poly Pomona – 100
4. UC Davis – 117
5.Long Beach St. – 153
6. Central Arizona – 216
7. Cal St. San Marcos – 238
8. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 248
9.UC Riverside – 254
10. Pomona-Pitzer – 304
11. Cal Coast Track Club – 318
12. Azusa Pacific – 319
13. Colorado Mesa – 338
14. Cal Baptist – 363
15.Cal St. Northridge – 402
16. Cal St. Monterey Bay – 422
17. Concordia (Calif.) – 495
18. Whittier – 497
19. Riverside – 506
20. Vanguard (Calif.) – 590
21. Glendale CC – 639
22. La Verne – 648
23. Cal Lutheran – 65
 
MEN'S 8K INVITATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Top 5 of 153 Scored Runners + CSUSM Scored Runners):
1. Gilbert Kigen (Central Arizona) - 23:46.3
2. Hayden Hawks (Southern Utah) - 23:53.8
3. Cody Jordan (UC Riverside) - 24:07.8
4. Mark Huizar (Cal Poly Pomona) - 24:12.1
5. Francisco Gomez (Cal Poly Pomona) - 24:12.1
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22. Trent Warren (CSUSM) – 24:48.9
35. Caesar Castillo (CSUSM) – 25:12.3
40. Enrique Ramirez (CSUSM) – 25:22.0
60. Steven Terris (CSUSM) – 25:46.6
81. Justin Washington (CSUSM) – 26:10.4
(83) Ryan Maize (CSUSM) – 26:12.7
(112) Anthony Girolamo (CSUSM) – 26:48.4