RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Sept. 15 - Southern Utah Cross Country led the pack in California this weekend as Thunderbird athletes filled the top two positions in both the men's and women's invitational races at UC Riverside. The women's squad earned an overall victory for their efforts while the men finished second behind UC Santa Barbara.
"All in all it was really a great weekend for us," head coach Eric Houle said. "To have our top four women running faster than our second woman last season really indicates that this is going to be a great team."
Jamie Smith led the women at Riverside with a first-place overall finish and time of 20:30.6, followed immediately by Sylvia Bedford with a second-place time of 20:32.5. Both times break into the 6k course records set by the Thunderbirds in 2011, with Smith improving her second-place record by nearly 30 seconds and Bedford tallying a third-place mark.
Danielle Jewkes (20:49.8) and Kirsten Bradford (20:54.9) were the next T-Birds to finish, placing fifth and seventh respectively while Shelli Mogensen (21:15.7) wrapped up the score with a 16th-place finish. Jewkes, Bradford and Mogensen also broke into the school course records, ranking fourth, fifth and sixth. The squad recorded a 45-second gap time and 1:44:3.5 combined time, cutting about 24 seconds off the 2011 gap of 69 seconds and about 1:42 off the 2011 combined time of 1:45:45.4.
The women won the meet with a final score of 31, followed by a tie for second between UC Riverside and Nike Team Run LA, which tallied 76 points each.
Southern Utah athletes also swept the top two in the men's 8k invitational race, with Ryan Barrus leading the pack with a first-place time of 24:08.6 and Nate Jewkes placing second with a time of 24:10.9. John Hart was the next T-Bird across the line for the men, finishing 13th with a time of 24:53.4. Devan Antczak and Nigel Sharp rounded out the score with 25:06.0 and 25:16.2 finishes respectively. The men recorded a 1:07 gap time, cutting about 42 seconds of their 2011 gap of 1:49.
The men's squad placed second overall, tallying a score of 59 and finishing just behind UC Santa Barbara's score of 53. UC San Marcos finished third with a total of 107 points.
"We'd like to get a few more guys up with the leaders and close that gap a bit, but it was really a great meet for them as well," Houle added.
The T-Birds will now take another two-week break from competition before the squads travel to Eugene, Ore., for the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Sept. 29.
