FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country will trek to the midwest and compete in the 2019 Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational. Both squads are in the gold divisions and will compete at 12:15 p.m. PT (women's 5K) and 1 p.m. PT (men's 5-mile). Live results for the meet can be found here.
On the women's side, Fullerton will compete against the likes of Akron, Central Michigan, Clemson, Kansas State, LSU, UTEP, Western Michigan, Wyoming and many others. For the men, the field consists of Akron, Auburn, Indiana State, Kansas State, LSU, Oakland, Stephen F. Austin, Utah Valley, UTEP and others.
Last time out, the Titans competed at the Mustang Challenge at Central Park in Santa Clarita on Sep. 28. The men's team was led by Eduardo Guapilla to a 10th-place finish while the women only had four runners finish the race and therefore did not score as a team.
At the USD Invite, 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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