California Baptist University
UCR Invitational
Men's Cross Country Dominates the Field at UCR Invite; Women Finish Third
9/21/2024 12:27:00 PM | Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University cross-country team showed out in its second meet of the season, with the men winning its second consecutive race of the year and the women placing third at the UCR Invitational.
The UCR Invite boasted perhaps the deepest field the meet has had in some time, with teams like Utah State, Arizona State, Cal Poly, and Nevada competing in the race. The last time CBU raced both of its teams in the invite was in 2021, when the Lancers would take the crown in both races. This time around, the men would dominate the field to claim the trophy, and the women would have a strong showing with a podium finish at third.
The women would kick off the morning for CBU as they would compete in the 6K invite. The women were consistent in the race, never dropping out of the top three, and would finish firmly in the third slot with 125 points. The Lancers would finish behind only Utah State and Cal Poly, who would finish with 67 and 123 points, respectively. Ava Dyck, in her first collegiate race, would be the first crosser for the Lancers as she claimed 5th place with a time of 20:09.2. Yasna Petrova was the next to cross the line for CBU, finishing 12th with a time of 20:17.7. The Lancers would have three more runners in the top 50 of the race including Ceyda Pinar, Karolina Bliujute, and Eleonara Visnevskyte.
The men would dominate the field at UCR as they did at the Mark Covert Invite to open the season. CBU led wire-to-wire in the race and would finish with a score of 25, which is nearly perfect. The Lancers had six of the top 11 finishers, including the top two finishers, Zouhair Redouane and Valentin Soca, who crossed the line with nearly identical times. Redouane was the individual winner at Mark Covert and now has two individual crowns to begin his collegiate career. Daniel Abdala finished fifth for CBU with a time of 23:38.7, while Adam Trefecanty, Pedro Marin, and Massimiliano Berti would round out the top placers for CBU.
The morning would conclude with the open races in which the Lancers had four total runners. Olissa Onley picked up a top 10 finish on the women's side with a time of 18:00.2, while Evan McReynolds would set a new personal best time of 28:08.2 on the men's side.
NEXT: The Lancers will be back in action on October 4th as they travel to South Bend, Indiana, to compete in the Joe Piane Invite.
Players Mentioned
