SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa ? The UC San Diego cross country teams were back in action Saturday morning and both had impressive showings at the SRU Pre-National Invitational at Cooper's Lake Campground. The Triton men had three runners finish in the Top 10 of the 8,000-meter race to capture their third team title of the season, while the women also fared well in their 6,000-meter run, finishing fourth overall.
UCSD's harriers have been outstanding in 2008 and the Tritons enter next weekend's UCSD Triton Classic boasting five team victories in a total of eight races this season. Showing no signs of rust after the two-week layoff, the men won their second consecutive race and third in four events this year. In addition to Saturday's victory, the Triton men and women swept the CSUSB Coyote Invitational in their last event on September 20 and posted a pair of wins in a home meet with Point Loma Nazarene, the University of San Diego, and UNLV on August 29.
The women opened things up Saturday morning and freshman
Bre Schofield shined once again, finishing seventh overall on the course that will serve as the site of the NCAA National Championships on November 22. The rookie runner crossed the finish line with a time of 22:41, seven seconds behind Christie Turak of Mercyhurst College. Schofield has been UCSD's top individual finisher in all four races this season.
Senior
Ashleigh Montgomery was next Triton runner to finish, clocking in at 22:50, which was the 11th-fastest time on the day. Freshman
Elena Inouye turned in another strong performance, finishing third among UCSD runners and 27th overall with a time of 23:30.
Jessica DiMascio and
Kim Andrews rounded out the scoring for the Tritons, placing 42nd and 48th with their respective times of 23:42 and 23:51.
UCSD finished with 125 points on the day, six places behind third place Wayne State. Fellow CCAA member Cal State L.A. and host SRU finished in a tie for first with 107 points.
On the men's side, senior
Jake LeVieux paced UCSD once again, finishing fourth overall with a time of 25:24. The Carlsbad, Calif. native crossed the finish line just one second behind the third place runner, Abdntlah Sallah of Wayne State, and was 33 seconds behind Slippery Rock's Pat Reagan, the winner of the event.
LeVieux has had a stellar senior campaign thus far, finishing first among Triton runners in each of the last three events. Individually he has placed in the top five overall on three occasions.
LeVieux finished two seconds ahead of teammate
Jesse Morrill, who took home fifth place overall.
Gabe LaMothe posted a second straight Top 10 finish, clocking in at an even 26:00, which was good enough for eighth overall. Seniors
Greg Geldman and
Kevin Klein rounded out the Triton runners that scored on the day, finishing in 15th and 20th place, respectively. Geldman recorded a time of 26:15, 11 seconds in front of Klein.
The Tritons scored a total of 52 points to finish 17 ahead of second place Lock Haven, which placed two runners in the Top 10. Wayne State finished third with 91 points.
UCSD's runners will look to keep rolling when they return to action next weekend with the UCSD Triton Classic on Saturday, October 11 on the La Jolla campus. The 10k men's race will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the 6k women's event following at 10:15.
