Highlander Invitational Info
Highlander Entries List
Titan XC Stats
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – After a week off the trail, the Cal State Fullerton cross country squad returns to action on Saturday for the Highlander Invitational, hosted by UC Riverside. At last year's Highlander Invitational, the Titan men finished third overall while the women placed fourth as Jose Penaloza and Sierra Ungerman lead the way for their teams as they both posted top-10 finishes.
MEET INFO: This weekend's event, the Highlander Invitational, will take place at UC Riverside's home course which is known as the Ag/Ops Course. The men get the morning started as they begin their 6k race at 8 a.m. PT and the women follow with a 5k race at 8:30 a.m. PT. Admission to the event is free and signs will take those attending to the designated area of the parking lot.
THE COURSE: The Agricultural Operations Course is UC Riverside's home course and is located adjacent to campus on the 420-acre Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station (CRC-AES) on the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Canyon Crest Drive. The course features a 5k, 6k and 8k and is deceptive, appearing flat, fast and easy at first, but with a large difference in elevation from one end of the course to the other. It was developed for the 1979 NCAA Division II National Championships and has served as the hosts for the annual UC Riverside Invitational and numerous conference and regional championships. The site was the hosts course for the Big West Championship in 2002, 2004-05 and 2008-11.
THE FIELD: This weekend's field at the Highlander Invitational features Big West schools CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC Riverside. Other DI schools competing at the event are Pepperdine, San Diego State and USC.
RESULTS: Results will be posted after the awards presentation on finishedresults.com. A PDF of the results will also be available on fullertontitans.com.
UNGERMAN AND VAN DE WEERD IMPRESS UP NORTH: Titans Sierra Ungerman and Freek Van de Weerd were the top-finishers at the West Region Preview in Sacramento on Oct. 1.
The freshman, Van de Weerd, ran his best race of the year according to coach John Elders as the Netherlands native finished 30th overall at the event and completed the course with a time of 24:41.6 to score 16 points for Fullerton.
On the women's side, Ungerman placed seventh overall and has been a key contributor to the Titans this season as she has finished in the top-10 in each event this year. The senior completed the 6k course at the West Region Preivew in 21:03.8.
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 Rizk 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: After competing in the Highlander Invitational, the Titans will host their first and only meet of the season as the Titan Invitational will take place at the Titan Track Complex on Oct. 21. The event will begin at 5:15 p.m. PT.