Big West Championship Meet Central
FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country will host the Big West Championships on Saturday at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea. The men's 8,000-meter race is set to begin at 8:45a.m. while the women are running the 6K at 9:30 a.m. All Titan fans are encouraged to wear orange to the meet to show your support.
"I think our preparation has been fantastic," said head coach John Elders. "I think our kids are prepared to compete at a high level. We expect the men to be in the mix for the top few spots in the conference. We expect the women to compete with Cal Poly for the championship. Our aspirations are high but these kids have put in the work and they are primed and ready to go."
The Titans will compete against the UC Riverside, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UC Davis, CSUN and Hawaii (women's team only).
"The big thing for us is to not try and be superheroes, just let our fitness take control and if we do that we will race really well," Elders said.
The Titans ran on this course for the Mark Covert Classic to begin the season against their Big West rivals UCSB and Cal Poly while posting solid performances.
"It's always nice to be on your own course but all the teams in this race on this course at the Mark Covert Classic. But yes, there is always an edge when you run on your own course and we hope that we have a great turn out from our fans."
In 2017, UC Santa Barbara won the women's competition with 45 points to narrowly defeat Cal Poly with 47 points. The Titans tallied 77 in third place while UC Riverside had 89 in fourth place and UC Davis totaled 133 in fifth. Samantha Huerta led the way in 4th place with a 6K time of 20:41.5, which is the best finish for a Titan since 1994. Huerta is tied for the second-best individual finish in program history at the conference championships with Heather Killeen in 1994 and Kristen Peters in 1991.
For the men, Cal Poly won with 29 points and UC Santa Barbara earned a runner-up finish with 55 points. The Titans had 112 points in third place, UC Davis was fourth with 141 points and UC Irvine tallied 144 in fifth place. Samuel Pimentel clocked a time of 24:59.8 in 14th place as the first Titan to cross the finish line. Jacob Smith's time of 25:09.6 was good for 19th place overall.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitans.com/Tickets. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (@FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans), and Instagram (@FullertonTitans) and Snapchat (FullertonTitans). In addition, the track and field and cross country teams have established their own official Twitter page (@FullertonTFXC) and Facebook Page (@FullertonTFXC).
