California Baptist University
UC Riverside Invitational
Positive Strides Forward
9/13/2014 10:02:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country, Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- On a day Riverside, Calif., was expected to break over 100-degrees, California Baptist University beat the heat with an early showing at the UC Riverside Invitational Saturday morning.
Men
Bryton Reim led things off for the Lancer men in the 8K invitational, crossing the finish line in a time of 25:15.8 to place 42nd individually and help CBU take 12th place out of 29 squads.
"Our men looked a lot stronger than a year ago, which is what we always want to do at this point at the season," said head coach Dr. Ben Gall. "We finished really strong at the end of last season, so I think this start really bodes well for where we want to be come championship season."
Sophomore Valentin Robert followed not too far behind Reim to finish 48th individually with a time of 25:24.0. Right behind Robert was freshman Hector Hernandez, finishing in 60th place overall, but third for the Lancers, clocking in at 25:35.4.
NCAA Division I Minnesota won the invitational with 43 team points. Of the Division II schools, CBU finished third, behind UC San Diego and Cal Poly Pomona, with a team score of 321 to beat out Azusa Pacific by 145 points.
In the men's 8k collegiate open race, the Lancers finished in seventh out of 13 teams with a team score of 218.
Daniel Swann was the Lancers' first finisher for the collegiate open, placing 53rd with an overall time of 27:34.9. Jorge Estrada was on his footsteps to take 55th in 27:41.1, while Julian Hernandez placed 78th with a time of 28:14.0.
"We have to work really hard over the next two months to close the gaps up to the teams we need to defeat to earn a return trip to the NCAA national championships in December," said Gall.
CBU will take some time to put in the work as the Lancers close out the month of September. The Lancers return to action on Saturday, October 4, with some of the squad competing at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, Calif., as well as the Greater Louisville Classic in Louisville, Ky.--the site of the NCAA Division II Championship Meet.
Women
For the first time, the CBU women beat out PacWest rival Azusa Pacific, a huge victory since the Cougars are the two-time defending conference champions. The feat comes despite the Lancers being a little too eager to start the race.
"I thought the women were a little too aggressive today and paid the price," said Gall. "As we continue to get stronger they will be able to handle that, but for now it was a little too quick."
Veronica Hall was the women's top runner as she finished 29th individually with a 6K time of 21:56.3. Hall ran a more conservative race and at one point was the Lancers' ninth runner in line, but she finished strong to help the Lancers take seventh out of 23 teams--APU finished 11th.
"Veronica did a good job of being more conservative and moving up through the field to lead the team at the end," said Gall.
Exactly four seconds after Hall, freshman Tori Dutchover crossed the finish line, placing 32nd individually with a time of 22:00.3. A few more seconds behind Dutchover, fellow freshman Katie Deimling crossed the finish with a time of 22:03.5.
In her first race of the season, Caroline Barkechir crossed the finish line with a time of 22:21.5, while Charlotte Davidson finished with a time of 22:25.4.
Division I Utah Valley won the team competition with 95 points while UC Santa Barbara came in second with 113 points.
The women's open race followed, giving more Lancers a chance to score points for CBU. The squad took 10th out of 20 teams, scoring 285 to beat out Concordia (Calif.) by 79 points.
Natalie Ball came in first for the Lancers in the open with a 5K time of 18:59.9. Not far behind was freshman Claire Rainey (20:10.5). About twenty seconds behind Rainey was Jennifer Buettner with a time of 20:31.6 .
"Our girls need to keep learning their limits and gaining confidence as the season goes on and we will be right where we want to be in November," said Gall.
Like the men, CBU's women take a break from competition for the rest of September. The Lancers return to action on Saturday, October 4, with some of the squad competing at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, Calif., as well as the Greater Louisville Classic in Louisville, Ky.--the site of the NCAA Division II Championship Meet.
