FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's and women's cross country will compete in the NCAA West Regionals on Friday in Colfax, Wash. The meet is being hosted by Washington State University and will consist of the women's 6K race at 11:30 a.m. PT followed by the men's 10K race at 12:30 p.m. PT.
On the women's side, the list of entries include: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Cal Poly, California, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Hawai'i, Idaho, Long Beach St., Loyola Marymount, Oregon, Oregon State, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Portland State, Sacramento St., San Diego, San Diego St., San Francisco, San Jose St., Santa Clara, Seattle U., St. Mary's (Cal.), Stanford, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, UNLV, Washington, Washington State
The men's 10K includes: Arizona State, Boise State, Cal Poly, California, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Idaho, Long Beach St., Loyola Marymount, Oregon, Pepperdine, Portland, Portland State, Sacramento St., San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose St., Santa Clara, Seattle U., St. Mary's (Cal.), Stanford, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, Washington, Washington State
In 2018, the women's squad earned an 11th-place finish, led by Samantha Huerta who took 27th place. The men earned a 20th-place finish overall, led by Jorge Sanchez.
On Nov. 2, Fullerton women's cross country won the first Big West Championship in program history. For the men's squad, they took second place, tied for the best finish in program history and the last time CSF took second place was in 1993. Samantha Huerta earned a runner-up finish for the second straight year, tied for the best individual finish in a conference championship. She clocked a 6K time of 20:24.97. Trinity Ruelas was third with a time of 20:39.17 while Sarah Hollis was 10th at 21:09.4. Those three student-athletes all earned All-Big West accolades for finishing in the top 10. Sandra Flores' time of 21:11.6 was good for 12th place and Alyssa Block rounded outh the scoring in 17th place with a time of 21:23.2.
On the men's side, Erik Gonzalez led the way with an 8K time of 24:39.4 in fourth. Jacob Smith's time of 24:52.0 was good for sixth place and Alexis Garcia took 10th place at 25:00.4. Those three student-athletes earned all-conference honors as well. Anthony Alfaro took 14th place with a time of 25:12.9 and Jorge Sanchez rounded out the scoring with a time of 25:28.2 in 19th place.
Just like the USD Invite, both Ruelas and 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 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 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.
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