FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country host the Titan Invite on Friday evening, the team's final meet before the Big Wes Championships on Nov. 2 in Riverside. Friday's meet begins at 5:15 p.m. PT with the women's 5K while the men's 8K is set to start at 5:50 p.m.
The select Titans that are running will compete against Biola, Cal Coast, Chapman, East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Harbor, La Sierra, Life Pacific University, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Orange Coast College, Riverside College and others.
Just like the USD Invite, last time out both Trinity Ruelas and Jacob Smith won their respective races at the UCR Highlander Invite, but this time both teams won as well. Ruelas led the women to a dominant first-place finish as they scored just 31 points while second place had 82. Ruelas was named Big West Cross Country Women's Athlete of the Week for her outstanding performance. Smith led the men's team to a comfortable win as well, besting the second place squad by 17 points.
The women's team took home a first place finish at the 2019 Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational on while the men's team finished in 14th place. The women's team was led by Samantha Huerta's 12th place finish with a 5K time of 17:23.94. Ruelas was not far behind Huerta finishing 15th with a time of 17:26.31. Jorge Sanchez (25:13.05) and Smith (25:14.63) led Fullerton coming in 35th and 36th place, respectively. Because of their performances, Huerta and Sanchez were both named Big West Cross Country Athletes of the Week.
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, Ruelas won the women's 6K race by 14 seconds while 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 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.
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).