Sept. 20, 2009
Riverside, Calif. - Freshman Tyler Reed led Cal State Fullerton's young men's squad to a sixth-place finish and junior Yomaira Hernandez led the Titan women to a ninth-place showing in her season debut Saturday at the UCR Cross Country Invitational.
Reed led a pack of three Titans four seconds apart by finishing the 8K course in 27th place in a time of 25:17.4. Sophomore Joey Divizia was a few strides back in 30th place in 25:18.7 trailed closely by freshman John Carrell in 32nd in 25:21.3. Freshmen Corey Bullock (60th in 25:50.5) and Ren Jones (69th in 26:00.5) completed the CSF scoring.
Hernandez, like teammate Carolyn Ellis, passed up the Season Opener meet. She placed 21st overall in 17:41.4 for a career best at 5K. Ellis was running her first race since suffering a stress fracture in her femur late last season. She ran 45th in 17:58.4. Completing the Fullerton scoring were Gail Munoz at 58th in 18:10.3, Meredith Robie at 85th in 18:37.4 and Andrea Aguilar at 93rd in 18:43.2.
"Four of our top five men and five of our top seven were freshmen, so the future looks bright," said Head Coach John Elders. "This meet was another step forward for the men, placing sixth among 30 teams.
"We had a bit of a gap there between our third and fourth runners, so we need to close up that gap and we will be a real solid team.
"Carolyn was a little nervous and not sure what to expect in her first race but I think she regained some confidence today. Our supporting cast took a little step forward from the Seaon Opener Meet. I saw a lot of positives but we still have a ways to go. I was a little disappointed in the overall (ninth-place) showing, but the potential is there to move up and be a much better team by the end of the year."
BYU ran 1-4-5-6-7 to win the men's team competiton over the runnerup host Highlandes while UCR edged the Cougars for the women's championship.