Titan Invitational Entries List
Titan Invitational Meet Info
Titan Invitational Course Map
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton cross country squad closes out their final meet before the Big West Championships at home as they host the Titan Cross Country Invitational at the Titan Track Complex tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. PT.
MEET INFO: Due to extreme heat weather, each race has been moved back a half hour. The women's 5k event will kick off the meet at 5:30 p.m. PT, while the men's 8k event will follow at 6 p.m. PT. Admission to the meet will be free and parking after 5 p.m. PT on campus is also free of charge. Those who arrive before 5 p.m. PT and are seeking parking must purchase a daily parking permit from the yellow machine at the entrance to Lot A.
THE COURSE: Start/Finish on the track. Course loops around the grass recreation fields, and the concrete & asphalt pathways around the Sports Complex. The course surface is approximately 30% grass and 70% concrete & asphalt. Spikes are not recommended.
THE FIELD: The field at the Titan Invitational features Biola, Cal Coast Track Club, Cal State Fullerton, East LA, Hope International, La Sierra, Loyola Marymount, Marymount, Orange Coast, Palomar, Providence Christian, Riverside, San Diego Christian, San Diego Mesa, Santa Ana, The Masters, Antelope Valley and Vanguard.
RESULTS: A PDF of the results will be available online at finishedresults.com and the cross country page at fullertontitans.com.
TITANS COMPETING AT THE TITAN INVITE: Kevelin Huerta, Pamela Pelayo and Emily Ruiz will be the only Titan women competing in the women's 5k who have also competed in a majority of this year's events.
For the men, Gavin Bradley, Erick Juarez and Martin Montes will be the only Titan men competing at the event who've raced in a few events already this year.
Other Fullerton runners taking part in the event will be Jordan Agnew, Mia Franco, Ifunanya Gwacham, Taylor Hawkins, Zuri Henderson, Alison Parsons, Shelby Hernandez Jr., Thomas Medina, Robert Miyoshi and Thomas Rintoul.
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 Friday's Titan Invitational, Fullerton's cross country squad will make their way to the beautiful state of Hawaii for the Big West Cross Country Championships next Saturday. The meet will take place at 10 a.m. PT in Kahuku, Hawaii, at the Kahuku Golf Course.