Sept. 18, 2005

Seattle, WA - Damien Nieves and Maria Blazquez again paced Cal State Fullerton runners in the Titans' inaugural appearance Saturday in the Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in Seattle, where former Titan Nick Arciniaga won the men's open race.

Nieves ran 25th in the men's 8K race in 24:49 to lead Fullerton to a ninth-place showing among 14 schools. Blazquez covered the women's 6K route in 21:53 to place 22nd and lead the Titans to an eighth-place effort among 13 schools.

Cory Vaselenko (64th), Jason Graney (70th), Daniel Alvarez (77th) and Jon George (81st) comprised the rest of the Fullerton men's pack. Washington won the team title.

Washington also won the women's race with Carolyn Ellis (37th), Juliane Masciana (40th), Karina Ortiz (48th) and Amada Eichmann 57th)providing the Fullerton scoring.

"I thought the team performed really well," said Head Coach John Elders. "This was tougher competition than we saw at the Fullerton Season Opener.

"Maria ran a grat race with a school record 21:53 for the 6K. She's the first Titan to run it in under 22 minutes. Overall, our pack ran well, especially second through fourth.

"For the men I think everyone PR'd. Damien ran awesome at 24:49. And Cory Vaselenko had a huge race, running under 26 minutes (25:58) for the first time. And it might have been his first time under 27 minutes. Graney, Alvarez and George all ran good races. This was tough competition with the Washington schools, UCLA and Portland."

Arciniaga , who competed for Fullerton last season but now is running with Team Saucony, won the men's open division by 10 seconds in a time of 24:39.

Complete Sundodger Invitational results are available at: http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/sports/c-xc/recaps/091705aaa.html

Meanwhile, the balance of the Titans' women's varsity was running in the 61st Annual Aztec Invitatonal in San Diego. Running together in the Open Division, Denise Ditch, Kristen Hernandez, Leslie Kirby, Blanca Fernandez and Melissa Velazquez placed sixth among 13 schools.

Titan redshirts did well in San Diego. Jordan Horn ran unattached and finished second in the men's open race, losing by 6 seconds to Northern Arizona's Joseph Lomong after losing more time than that after missing a turn. Another Titan redshirt, Luz Valdez, also ran unattached and finished second in the women's open race after she missed the same turn as Horn.

Complete Aztec Invitational results are available at: http://goaztecs.collegesports.com/sports/w-xc/recaps/091705aaa.html