Story amended to reflect updated results.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Natalie Rodriguez shattered the Cal State San Marcos women's 6,000-meter record and Vahagn Isayan posted the fifth-fastest 8,000-meter mark on a successful day for the women's and men's cross country teams at the UCR Riverside Invitational on the UCR Ag/Ops Course on Saturday. The women's squad finished fourth with 100 points and the men's team place fifth with 135 points.

Rodriguez posted a time of 20:49.6, besting the previous CSUSM record by 21.8 seconds (Suzanne Cornwell, 2011), to finish fourth. It is the second straight race in which Rodriguez has established a Cougar record, having set a new 4,000-meter mark at the Cal Poly Pomona CCAA Preview on Sept. 2.

"I'm extremely happy with Natalie getting the school record; running a really strong race against very powerful (NCAA Division I) Arkansas runners," said head coach Steve Scott.

Paula Stonehouse (21:39.4) and Lisa Flora (21:41.4) were the two Cougars to cross the tape, setting new personal-bests and placing 21st and 22nd, respectively. Alyssa Omahen (22:29.7) and Cristen Lane (22:29.8) also established personal-bests, rounding out the top-five for CSUSM by placing 36th and 37th overall, respectively.

"Paula, Lisa, Alyssa and Cristen were awesome today," Scott said. "We really needed our fourth, fifth and sixth runners to step it up and they certainly did that today."

On the men's side, Isayan place fifth with a mark of 24:16.3 to earn a spot in the CSUSM all-time top five. Steven Terris was the next Cougar to finish, placing 14th with a personal-best of 24:44.3. Freshman Joshua Litwiller ran a personal-best 25:18.9 to place 36th and Enrique Ramirez ran a 25:24.3 to place 40th. Justin Washington grabbed the fifth spot for CSUSM, finishing 60th with a personal-best mark of 25:41.3.

"The men's team was very strong today. The guys team time, compared to last year, improved by almost two minutes," Scott said.

California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Cal Poly Pomona won the men's 8000m with 47 points and Cal Coast Track Club won the women's team winning the 6000m with 21 points.

Next on the docket for the Cougars is the Coyote Challenge at Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday, Sept. 24.