RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Sophomore Katie Bathgate finished 21st overall to pace the women while junior Anthony Castellon finished 32nd on the men's side, helping both Cal State Fullerton squads to seventh-place finishes at the 2012 Big West Conference Championship on Saturday morning in Riverside.
The Titan women, who competed without freshman standout Emily Taylor due to injury, finished with 196 points, outpacing Cal State Northridge (255), Hawaii (283), and Pacific (286) at the end of the day. The men's side finished with 182 points to top Cal State Northridge in the standings. Cal Poly swept both the men's and women's titles as Chris Frias (24:10.0) and Laura Hollander (19:12.6) took home individual honors.
Bathgate ran her best 6K of the season, finishing the course in a time of 21:13.3 -- one of three Titans in the top 50. Junior Lauren McIntyre finished 37th in a season-best time of 21:52.2 while sophomore Ladan Amiri was 45th in a time of 22:05.4, bettering her fastest 6K time this season by more than a minute.
Other Fullerton finishers included senior Lexie Bravo (53rd, 22:29.7), sophomore Tijerra Lynch (57th, 22:34.5), senior Casey Candelaria (60th, 22:45.3), freshman Natalie Hassna (61st, 22:51.3), and Celinda Manzo (70th, 23:31.5).
On the men's side, Castellon was the first Titan across the line on Saturday, completing the 8K course in 25:48.9 -- his second-fastest time of the season. Freshman Donald Bernard was 37th in just over 26 minutes (26:00.3) before four Fullerton runners came across the line in a tight pack: sophomore Jayson Perez (43rd, 26:21.0), freshman Jeff Little (45th, 26:30.8), freshman Tim Reed (47th, 26:51.9), and junior Brandon Cook (49th, 27:11.7).
Other Titan finishers included sophomore Brandon Perry (51st, 27:17.5), sophomore Daniel Ramos (27:30.6), and freshman Christian Aviles (27:59.2).
Cal State Fullerton will next compete at the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Regionals to be held in Seattle, Wash., and hosted by the University of Washington on Friday, Nov. 9, at the Jefferson Park Golf Course beginning with the women's 6K at noon and the men's 10K at 1:15 p.m.
