FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country are set to compete at the Mustang Challenge in Santa Clarita on Saturday morning. The men's 8K is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. PT while the women's 5K will go off at 7:45 a.m. PT. The meet is being held at Central Park and hosted by The Master's University. Fullerton will compete against the likes of UCLA and USC as well are west coast programs. To get an in-depth look at the 2019 men's and women's teams from head coach John Elders, click here.
Last time out, both the men's and women's squads earned runner-up finishes at the USD Invite. Individually, Trinity Ruelas won the women's 6K race by 14 seconds while Jacob Smith won the men's 5K by about five seconds. Ruelas has been the top finisher for the Titans in each of the first two races while Smith was the second Titan finisher in the season-opening race.
Fullerton opened up the year by sweeping the Mark Covert Classic on Aug. 31. Newcomer Erik Gonzalez led the way for the men's team with an 8K finish of 24:55.9 to take third place overall and first among collegians. On the women's side, Ruelas was second overall and first among collegians in the 5K with a time of 17:51.9.
The Titans women's squad returns five of the seven runners they sent to the Big West Championships that earned a runner-up finish overall, the best team finish since 1992. Included in the cast of returns is senior Samantha Huerta, who earned a runner-up finish as an individual at the 2018 Big West Cross Country Championships and was a 2019 NCAA Track and Field All-American. Also, the Titans welcome back Ruelas and Sandra Flores. Each member of that trio earned 2018 All-Big West accolades.
On the men's side, the squad returns all but one runner as well, albeit that one runner was Samuel Pimentel, the top runner on the team in 2018. However, Jorge Sanchez, Jacob Smith and Anthony Alfaro are back to lead the way for the squad that took third place in the 2018 Big West Championships.
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