Meet Information
Men's Course Map
Women's Course Map
Fullerton XC Stats
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After taking both the men's and women's titles at the USD Invite, the Cal State Fullerton cross country team faces it toughest challenge yet this weekend as they take part in the NCAA West Region Preview at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex on Saturday morning.
MEET INFO: The weekend's event, also known as the Capitol Cross Challenge, will be hosted by the Sacramento Running Association and Sacramento Sports Commission. The race will take place at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex which is one of the premier public golf facilities in the northern California area. College men will begin their 8k race at 9:35 a.m. PT, while the women take the course in the 6k at 10:15 a.m. PT.
THE COURSE: The Haggin Oaks Cross Country Course layout will be on the Arcade Creek course using nine different holes following an outer and inner horseshoe design. The course is flat and most of the running is on well-maintained fairways. The horseshoe configuration makes the course spectator and coach-friendly and prevents the possibility of lapping runners. All NCAA Championship specifications have been met as the course is 10m wide at all points on the course and the runners will kick 1000m before making the first turn. Start and finish areas arw adjacent to one another, while the course finished with a forgiving 300m finish down the ninth fairway.
THE FIELD: The NCAA West Region Preview will be the strongest field the Titans have been in this year as it features Arizona State, Cal Baptist, Cal State Northridge, California, Chico State, Eastern Washington, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, Richmond, Sacramento State, San Diego State, Southern Utah, UC Davis, UC Riverside and USC.
RESULTS: Live results will be available during each race on recordtiming.com. Final results will be posted on fullertontitans.com and www.runsra.org/capital-cross-challenge/meet-information/.
COMING OUT STRONG: Through the first two races, Titan freshman Samantha Huerta has been a model of consistency thus far for Fullerton. Huerta was the top-finisher for the Titans at the Mark Covert Classic where she placed third overall with a time of 18.12.9 to complete the 5k course. At the USD Invite, the freshman put up another strong performance by placing third again with a time of 22:28 to finish the 6k course. The La Mirada native committed to Fullerton with some high praise from coach Elders as he believes she can be the key to Titan XC collecting their first Big West Title.
For the men, Jose Penaloza has been incredible in his first two races as the senior placed first overall at the Mark Covert Classic with a time of 25:01, leading the men to a second place finish. In San Diego, the Garden Grove native placed second with a time of 25:33 to be the top-finisher and get the men their first title of the year at the USD Invite.
TITAN MEN & WOMEN TAKE USD INVITE TITLE: The Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country teams won both the men's and women's events at the USD Invite, hosted by the University of San Diego on Sept. 17. The Titan men got started first as Jose Penaloza finished second overall with a time of 25:33 to be the top-finisher for Fullerton. Sam Pimentel and Joe Casco joined Penaloza in the top 10 by completing the course in 25:50 and 25:58 to finish seventh and ninth overall. Fullerton's Freek Van De Weerd and Jason Hillquist made top-15 finishes at the event as well to give the Titans a total team score of 40 points and the USD Invite crown. Titans Gabe Toscano and TJ Moffit also placed well at the event finishing 18th and 28th with times of 26:23 and 26:48.
Following the men's event, the Titan women got their race underway at 9 a.m. and put up amazing times across the board with four runners completing the course in the top 10. Sierra Ungeman placed first on the women's side with a time of 22:21 and fellow TitansSamantha Huerta and Stephanie Ruiz didn't finish far behind the senior as they placed third and fourth. Brianna Jacklin was the other Fullerton runner to finish in the top 10 as she placed ninth overall with a time of 22:44. True freshman Sandra Flores clinched the race for the Titan women as completed the course in 22:55 to finish 11th and give Fullerton a total team score of 28 points, the lowest meet score for the XC women's program since September of 2013 when they finished the CSUSB Invitational with a team score of 24 points. Arianna Fuentes and Nisreen Rizk placed in the top-30 for the Fullerton women as Fuentes finished the course with a time of 23:36 to place 23rd, while Rikz placed 29th overall with a time of 24:21.
XC WOMEN CROWNED MARK COVERT CLASSIC CHAMPS: For the first time since 2007, the Cal State Fullerton women's cross country team took home the crown at the Mark Covert Classic just two Saturdays ago. The Titan women put together a complete team effort as five of them finished in the top 15 to collect a total score of 41 points, being only three points shy of the program-record (38 points) in 1987. Samantha Huerta was the top-finisher for the Titans as she completed the course with a time of 18:12.9 to place fourth. Brianna Jacklin wasn't too far behind Huerta as she finished just six seconds after her (18:18.9) to place sixth among colleges. Sierra Ungerman, Stephanie Ruiz and Sandra Flores would close out the top 15 for Fullerton as the trio of Titans runners all completed the course within seven seconds of each other. Ungerman placed ninth (18:30.6), Ruiz was right behind her with a time of 18:31.0 to place 10thand Flores finished the race in 18:37.3 to place 12th among schools.
On the men's side, the Titans earned a runner-up finish with a score of 61 at the Mark Covert Classic for the second-straight season as they destroyed their score from last season by 20 points. Jose Penaloza recorded his highest finish ever at the Mark Covert Classic as the junior placed first among colleges with a time of 25:01.0. Titan Jason Hillquist also had a personal best at the Mark Covert Classic by completing the course in 25:14.6 to place second among colleges and third overall to give Fullerton the top two runners among college runners.
LONGEST-TENURED COACH: As the 2016 season gets underway, cross country and track and field head coach John Elders enters his 29th season at the helm of each program making him the longest tenured head coach in the history of Cal State Fullerton. Elders was tied with former fencing head coach Heizaburo Okawa (1982-2006) and former men's soccer coach Al Mistri (1981-2005) for 25 years of service at Fullerton. The Orange County native is coach of cross country, women's indoor track and field, and men's and women's outdoor track and field.
UP NEXT: With strong showings lined up this weekend, Cal State Fullerton returns to action two weeks from this Saturday on Oct. 15 for the Highlander Invitational in Riverside, Calif. The Titan men placed third overall, while the women finished fourth in last year's Highlander Invitational. Jose Penaloza and Sierra Ungermann both posted top-10 finishes at the event.