California Baptist University
Lancer Invitational (6K, 4K)
Newcomers Make An Impression
9/7/2014 2:03:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country, Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — After already earning spots in the NCAA Division II rankings, both California Baptist University men's and women's cross country made strong starts to the 2014 campaign at the third annual Lancer Invite.
CBU's No. 11-ranked women started the morning off with a first place finish and the No. 25-ranked men followed by taking second, but saw an individual winner in Valentin Robert.
The Lancers faced familiar teams in Academy of Art, Concordia (Irvine), Providence Christian, San Diego Christian, UC San Diego and San Bernardino Valley (men only).
"We were very excited to host a meet with such excellent competition today. Our teams both had a much faster start to the season than a year ago," said head coach Ben Gall.
The Lancer women, who rank second in the West Region, beat out fellow regionally-ranked team UC San Diego, along with four other teams with 26 team points on the day. Freshman Alicia Williams paved the way for CBU with a third overall finish out of 62 women, crossing the finish line with an outstanding 4K time of 14:28:7.
Katie Deimling came in second for the Lancers and finished fifth overall with a time of 14:31:5, while Veronica Hall finished in third for CBU and sixth overall with a time of 14:33:5. Just one second behind Hall was Ester Mueller, taking seventh overall with a time of 14.34.3. Charlotte Davidson capped off the top five for the ladies and finished ninth overall with a time of 14:40:5.
"Watching the women run so close as a pack and defeat such a strong UC San Diego team was exciting and shows that they are ready to bring program to new heights later this fall," said Gall.
On the men's side, another new face in a CBU uniform was the leader of the pack. Robert ran faster than all 53 other runners to take first and lead the Lancers with a 6K time of 18:09.2. The sophomore transfer helped the Lancers finish the day with 42 points to take second behind UCSD.
Bryton Reim and Taylor Guske followed closely behind Robert. Reim finished sixth overall with an impressive time of 18:22:4, while Guske finished a few seconds behind Reim with a time of 18:49:8.
Abdel Samad El Hajjami posted a time of 18:58:2, while David Aguilar posted a time of 19:09:0 to round out the Lancers' top five finishers.
"On the men's side UC San Diego showed us that they are a team we are going to have to work hard to defeat later in the year as we try and improve on last years results at the regional and national championships," said Gall. "Though our men won this meet last year, they ran much faster today, so that is exciting as we continue to work hard towards our goals during the championship season."
The CBU men got a taste of what might come in the championship season as the No. 5-regionally ranked Lancers matched up against the No. 4 and No. 10-ranked West Region teams in UCSD and Academy of Art. The Tritons also sit in the top-25 at No. 21.
CBU stays local as it competes next at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13, beginning at 7:30 a.m.
