by Kyle Trembley

Cal State San Marcos men’s and women’s cross-country competed in their second race of the fall on Saturday, with both teams taking eighth place at the UC Riverside Invitational.

On the twelfth-ranked men’s side, for the second straight week the Cougars beat their time from last year by over a minute, finishing eighth with a team time of 2:07:29.  Leading the way for the second straight week was Western Nelson, who placed thirty-sixth with a time of 25:04.

Next on the team was Brett Campfield, who bested his time from last week by a significant margin, running 25:20 to take fifty-sixth.  The two-time track and field All-American should continue to make an impact in his first season running cross-country for the Cougars.

Third on the team was Jonathan Alpizar, who placed sixty-sixth with a time of 25:33.1.  Rounding out the top-5 for the Cougars were Lenny Santana at 25:51 (eighty-third) and Michael Hansen at 25:59 (ninety-third).

Also competing for the Cougars were Polo Mariscal (26:01), Ryan Jensen (26:02), Ismael Rodriguez (26:06), Eddie Mariscal (26:13), Dustin Blankenship (26:23), Armando Lara (26:27), Joshua Bollinger (26:34), Valente Villalobos (27:00), David Cummings (27:07), Tyler Schieldge (27:34), Dave Slack (27:53), Saul Oros (28:46), and Mark Shimmin (29:12).

The men’s race was won by BYU, with the host school coming in second.

For the number two-ranked CSUSM women, the Cougars were a couple minutes behind last year’s time at this event, though it was the first race of the season for star runner Cady Villarreal.

Leading the team was Jessica Sandoval, who posted a nice early-season time of 17:52 to take thirty-fourth place.  Second was Jen Albright, last week’s surprise team leader and overall twelfth place finisher, who ran 18:08 to take fourty-nineth place.

Not far behind were Carol Schryver and Suzanne Cornwell, who ran 18:13 and 18:19 to take sixtieth and sixty-seventh, respectively.  Rounding out the top-five was Villarreal, who came in at 18:27 to place eightieth.

Also competing for the Cougars were Aubriele Rowe (18:32), Kelly Thompson (18:33), Cassidy Reich (18:38), and Chelsey Cortez (18:40).

The race was won by the University of Arkansas, with Southern Utah placing second.

There was also an open race held, where the CSUSM team, led by Michelle Cruz (eleventh place at 18:30) and  Heidi Swanson (thirtieth place at 19:13) took second place.