Complete results (PDF): Men | Women

SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco, and the rest of the field, braved the heat to compete in the 25^th USF Invitational. The Dons started the year off strong as both the men and women finished first as a team, and individually.
 
"It's so early, so we've done very little race specific work. Our goal for both women and men was just to work on pack running and execution and test your fitness over the back end," said USF head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "Today was all about having some fun in our backyard and getting some good races in."
 
The USF women's team started the day with a decisive victory over some local schools including San Jose State, Cal and Santa Clara. The No. 10 Dons raced to victory, led by seven women finishing in the top-10, including the first four finishers on the course at Golden Gate Park's Hellman Hollow.
 
Weronika Pyzik (21:31.67) led the leading pack of Dons followed shortly after by teammates Isabelle Brauer (21:33.59), Lizzie Bird (21:34.74) and freshman Lea Meyer (21:35.17).
 
The next group of Dons came in with Junior Tatjana Schulte in eighth with a time of 21:58.12, followed up Alena Ulrichova (Ninth – 22:08.43) and Emma Stahr (10^th – 22:13.26), Frederique Latraverse (11^th – 22:20.73).
 
"We've never had a pack on the women's side do what they did today, and do it so easily. We have a few more people to insert in to the lineup, we didn't have Charlotte or Marie running today," said Lehman-Winters. "If you're going to be effective at the highest level you have to have depth, and you have to be strong group and that's our goal at the end of the season."
 
The men came next, running the 8K distance, and finished strongly placing first among the schools racing. Senior Mohamed Aziz came through the final turn with a big gap between him and the rest of the field to finish first with a time of 25:20.95, that first place finish was the first of his career for Aziz. Finishing in second, but designated as unattached, was fellow Don Jack Rowe with a time of 25:27.32.
 
Round out the scoring racers for the Dons were Ben Alcock (fourth – 25:45.45), Alex Howard (eighth – 26:06.29), Isaias DeLeon (10^th – 26:13.49), Caleb McClain (15^th – 26:22.38), Hugh Nicklason (22^nd – 26:51.31) and Leo Donlea (25^th – 26:58.90). Both DeLeon and Donlea were competing in their first collegiate race as freshman. 
 
"On the women's side we didn't race our entire squad, and on the men we have a couple of guys who aren't cleared, but we're pretty excited about where we are, we are in a good spot physically. Three weeks from now will be our true opener as a team," said Lehman-Winters. 
 
The next meet for the Dons will come after a three-week training block. Following that, USF will travel to Minneapolis, Minn., to take part in the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 23. Some of the Dons will stay in San Francisco to take part in the SF State Invitational on Sept, 22 back at Golden Gate Park.

USF Results:
WOMEN - 1st Place; 18 points
1. Weronika Pyzik - 21:31.67 (1 pt)
2. Isabelle Brauer - 21:33.59 (2 pts)
3 Lizzie Bird - 21:34.74 (3 pts)
4. Lea Meyer - 21:35.17 (4 pts)
8. Tatjana Schulte - 21:58.12 (8 pts)
9. Alena Ulrichova - 22:08.43 (9 pts)
10. Emma Stahr - 22:13.26 (10 pts)
11. Frederique LaTraverse - 22:20.08 
12. Valerie Almanza - 22:22.7 
17. Ellie Wallace - 23:02.4 
24. Kelsey Nielsen - 23:44.2 
43. Victoria Almanza - 24:55.6 

MEN - 1st Place; 29 Points
1. Mohamed Aziz - 25:21.0 (1 pt)
4. Ben Alcock - 25:45.5 (2 pts)
8. Alex Howard - 26:06.3 (6 pts)
10. Isaias DeLeon - 26.13.5 (8 pts)
15. Caleb McClain - 26:22.4 (12 pts)
22. Hugh Nicklason - 26:51.3 (19 pts)
25. Leo Donlea - 26:58.9 (21 pts)
29. Daniel Maneloveg - 27:09.4 
42. Cristian Monsalud - 27:42.0