 |  |
Men's and Women's Cross Country Finish Second at Aztec Invitational
Sept. 19, 2009
Women's Individual and Team Results 
Men's Individual and Team Results
(San Diego, CA) - Both San Francisco cross country teams finished second in the 65th annual Aztec Invitational at San Diego State University on Saturday morning. Northern Arizona men's (ranked 5th) and women's (ranked 16th) took first in their respective races on the warm and muggy morning at Balboa Park.
Women's 5k: Freshman Eva Krchova led the women's team, finishing fourth in 18:36, followed closely by junior Nicole Bowler, who also ran an 18:36 (5th). Sophomore Hillary Kigar, in her first meet of the season, came in ninth at 18:57. Two freshmen rounded out the Don scoring five, with Sophie Curl finishing 11th in 19:05, and Hayley Niles running a 19:16 (14th). Freshman Chloe Treleven came in 15th in 19:20, and freshman Heather Zytkewicz finished 19th in 19:47. Freshman Sahar Bala earned a 19:49, good for 23rd, and junior Laurel Kleiber, also in her first meet of the year, ran a 20:00 flat (27th). All Dons finished in the top 30 out of nearly 100 runners in the event.
Northern Arizona (29), ranked 16th nationally, took the event with the scoring five finishing in the top 15, including winner Veronica Pohl (18:11). USF took second with 43 points, followed by Long Beach State at 110. Fourth place San Diego State finished with 113 points, and WCC foe University of San Diego's `A' team rounded out the top five at 115. Saint Mary's (191) and USD's `B' team (259) finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Men's 8k: Sophomore Ganbileg Bor finished fifth at 25:52, interrupting what would have been a NAU sweep of the top five spots. Sophomore Will Marquardt finished 14th in 26:43 and senior Alex Nelson followed close behind at 26:47 (15th). Sophomore Jesus Romo came in 18th with a time of 26:52 and freshman Adrian Rafiee rounded out the Dons scoring five with a 26:58 (19th). Sophomore Joshua Horeled ran a 27:00 flat, good for 20th, and junior Ravi Amarawansa finished 26th in 27:19. Sophomore Tyler Alvarez ran a 27:22 (28th) and sophomore Devin Hopkins rounded out the top 30 at 27:31. Once again, all Dons runners finished in the top 30 out of nearly 90 runners.
Northern Arizona's men's team (16), ranked fifth in the nation took the top four spots, with Jordan Chipangama winning the event in 25:17. USF took second with 55 points, followed by Long Beach State (ranked 14th in Western region) in third with 77 points. WCC foes USD and Saint Mary's rounded out the top five. San Diego finished fourth with 142 points and Saint Mary's took fifth (150). The USD `B' team took ninth (237).
"Both our men and women competed well against one of the top teams in the country," said head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "We made some tactical errors that cost us a bit in the end, but for the most part we got what we needed out of this meet."
USF returns to action at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, September 26th. The event, held on Stanford's golf course in Palo Alto, is set to begin at 4:00 PM.
