Nov. 1, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - Grace Gonzales had the best finish of a Cal State Fullerton female cross country runner in the Big West Championship Meet since 1991 Saturday morning as the Titans finished fourth and their men's team was seventh in the 2008 title meet at UC Riverside's Agricultural Course.

Gonzales ran the 6K course in 20:42.20 and was followed by Carolyn Ellis in 13th (20:57.50), Yomaira Hernandez in 25th (21:34.70), Amanda Robles in 30th (21:47.50) and Andrea Aguilar in 42nd (22:21.00). UC Santa Barbara's Danielle Domenichelli won the race in 20:09.40 but host UC Riverside won the team title ahead of UC Irvine.

On the men's side, Fullerton was led in the 8K event by Jeff Mackay (25:32.60) and Brent Handa (25:34.30), who ran 28th and 29th, respectively, followed by Eddie Perez, Michael Sanchez and Kevin Medema. Heavily favored Cal Poly ran away with the team title by finishing 1-2-4-5-7 and well ahead of runnerup UC Davis. Daniel Gonia of the Mustangs won the race in 24:02.4.

"Our women ran fourth in 2005 and you have to go back to 1992 to find us higher (third)," said Head Coach John Elders. "We finished ahead of UCSB for the first time since 1991.

"But we weren't at our best. We didn't get out well early and overall I felt we competed well but tactically did not run well. Carolyn Ellis is still struggling with a femur problem.

"As far as the men, we're young and we made strides, but it will take more than that to move up. The Big West is a good men's cross country conference."

Results

Complete Big West Conference Release in PDF Format