SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday morning in Riverside.

LAST TIME OUT

• Both teams opened the 2023 season at Cal State Fullerton's Mark Covert Classic last weekend with each taking seventh place. 
• Sankalp Shastri was CSUSM's top men's runner for the second consecutive year at the Mark Covert Classic, placing 36th with a time of 25:36.0 in the 8K race.  
• Carly Schuerger was the first CSUSM women's runner to cross the line for 32nd place with a time of 18:52.5.

 

RACE 2 | UCR INVITATIONAL
Date	Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023
Race Start Times	Men's 8K Invite - 7:50 AM Women's 5K Open - 8:25 AM Men's 8K Open - 8:55 AM
Location (Course)	Riverside, Calif. (UCR Ag-Ops Course)
Course Map	All Four Maps
Live Scoring	Finished Results

UCR INVITATIONAL 

• This is the first of two trips to Riverside for the CSUSM cross country teams this season. 
• Both teams competed in the UC Riverside Invitational last season with the women taking 22nd place and the men not recording a team score. 
• The women's top finisher in 2022 was Emily Mendoza who placed 60th with a time of 19:12.1 while the men were led by Byaombe Mloko with a time of 26:34.5.
• The UC Riverside course is mostly flat with a few rolling hills and hard-packed dirt with pre-competition watering to reduce dust. It is run through the agricultural operations center which features 100-year-old citrus trees.

MEET THE COUGARS

• The women's team returns 13 runners while the men's team has eight returners from the 2021 squad. 
• Twenty student-athletes will be wearing Cougar Blue this season (14 women, six men). 
• In their final races of 2021, both teams finished sixth at the NCAA Division II West Regional hosted by Western Oregon. 
• Shea Vavra was CSUSM's lone representative at the 2021 NCAA Division II National Championships in Saint Leo, Florida, where he finished 116th out of 262 runners. 
• The Cougars were picked third in both the CCAA Men's & Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll.
• In the preseason edition of the 2022 NCAA Division II National Rankings, as released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA), the women were ranked 27th while the men were receiving votes (both are sixth in the West Region). 

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his fifth season at the helm of the men's and women's cross country programs after taking over in the summer of 2018.
• Olson came to CSUSM after spending three seasons as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University where his teams earned 50-plus All-American honors.
• Olson served as the head cross country coach the previous three years at Academy of Art.
• In addition to the Academy of Art, Olson has also worked with the University of San Francisco and Pomona-Pitzer College.
• A graduate of Pomona College in 2009, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary's College (2012).