California Baptist University
UCR Highlander Invite (8K)
Lancers Grab Top Spot at UCR Invite
10/13/2018 12:16:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Cross Country, Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – In the last meet of the regular season, California Baptist University won the UCR Highlander Invitational—the first top finish for CBU in the NCAA Division I era.
It was a successful day for the Lancers as Simon Bedard took second individually and six Lancers set personal records at the UCR Agricultural Course.
"We really challenged them to race to the level of their training and run with passion today," said coach Adam Tribble. "The progress they made today is what we've been waiting for."
CBU had an impressive 51 team points for the first-place finish. Cal State Fullerton (92 points), Long Beach State (110 points), UC Riverside (114 points), and El Paso CC (136 points) took second through fifth place, respectively. Fellow Western Athletic Conference (WAC) member New Mexico State finished in seventh place.
Bedard took second individually in the 250 runner field after making some moves in the last 500 meters, crossing the finish line just six seconds after the first place finisher in 24 minutes, 30.3 seconds.
In a battle for fifth and sixth place, William Ernst and McMarshall Hartzenburg were neck-and-neck coming down the last 50 meters; Ernst beat out Hartzenburg by less than one second, but Hartzenburg (24:43.6) set a new personal best in the process. Dennis Messmer (15th, 25:03.5) and PR-setting Jayden Emerson (25th, 25:18.2) rounded out the Lancer scoring five. Hector Peralta (28th, 25:19.2) broke his previous PR by more than 30 seconds, and crossed just one second after Emerson.
"Big progress for the guys today. Very pleased to see the front six guys all take a big step forward with our team results," said coach Tribble.
Cody Beeson (77th, 26:08.5) and Jacob Boatman (93rd, 26:17.8), who put in a big kick near the finish-line to pass multiple runners, rounded out CBU's top-100 individual finishers.
Mike Alukunyang (103rd, 26:25.0), Koby Ghadery (128th, 26:50.6), Adriel Barajas (135th, 26:59.2), Collins Koech (138th, 27:03.3), Ken Kipkorir (146th, 27:13.5), Allen Fletcher (156th, 27:21.5), Mason Dowell (175th, 27:52.0), and Nathaniel Wong (195th, 28:32.5) closed out the regular season for the Lancers. Alukunyang, Ghadery, Barajas, and Fletcher all set personal bests in the process.
The Lancers next compete at the WAC Championship in Seattle on October 27.Â
RESULTS
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Players Mentioned
