California Baptist University
Ben Brown Invite
CBU Opens Outdoor Season with 14 Top-10 Times in the NCAA
3/10/2023 10:10:00 PM | Cross Country & Track
FULLERTON – California Baptist University men's and women's track began the 2023 outdoor season in harsh conditions on Friday night at the Ben Brown Invite/AstroAI Distance Classic, but that didn't stop the Lancers' from posting 14 times in the top 10 of the NCAA early in this new season.
The Ben Brown Invite/AstroAI Distance Classic headline race was the men's 10,000 meters. CBI swept the top seven spots in this race, led by one of the newest Lancers, Christian Ricketts, who broke the tape in 28 minutes and 43.64 seconds. His initial offering as a Lancer was the second fastest 10,000m race in program history, just .31 seconds behind Ivo Balabanov's record pace from 2020.
Matias Reynaga (28:49.53), Giedrius Valincius (29:15.04), Roman Zozulia (29:18.16), Valentin Soca (29:32.25), Dylan Van Der Hock (29:38.58), Massimilano Berti (29:47.97) filled the following six lines on the results sheet in order. The first five re-wrote the CBU record book, etching new times between the fourth and 10th placemarks of all time.
The same race was successful for the women's side, and they claimed five of the top six spots. Greta Karinaiskaite took the win in the women's race, demolishing the previous program record by over 39 seconds to become the first female Lancer to break the 34-minute barrier in this race.
Yasna Petrova (34:46.40), Cynthia Martin (35:20.63), Emilia Mikszuta (35:39.94), and Silvia De La Pena (36:11.20) claimed second, third, fourth, and sixth place in the 10,000m, respectively. Mikszuta cracked the program's top 10, landing in ninth place overall in the event all-time.
The women's 5,000m produced the final pair of top-10 finishes as well as Maella Porcher (16:26.87) and Maja Dzialoszewska (16:59.40) crossed the finish line in third and seventh place, respectively. Porcher's effort landed her in the program's top-10 list in sixth place all time.
Next up for the Lancers is a trip up north to the legendary Stanford Invite and the San Francisco State Invite on Friday, March 31.
Players Mentioned
