With finals on the horizon next week, the coaching staff sent a group of distance runners to the Occidental Distance Carnival on Friday, while a small contingent took part in the rain-shortened San Diego State Aztec Invitational on Saturday.

The weekend's biggest highlights came from the distance squad as UCSD had a total of six men and six women competing in Los Angeles. Senior Aaryn Kobayashi had a strong performance in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing fifth overall with a school record time of 11:19.21. She finished roughly 42 seconds behind Alaska Anchorage's Susan Tanui, who won the event at 10:37.65.

Fellow Tritons Katie Kane and Anneke Kakebeen were also part of the steeplechase field and they finished 11th and 16th with respective times of 11:34.48 and 11:53.12. Kane's time ranks No. 8 all-time at UCSD.

Sophomore Chia Chang also cracked the Triton record books, finishing with a time of 17:58.55 in the women's 5000-meters. Her time was good enough for 24th place and ranks No. 10 all-time.

On the men's side, sophomore Kellen Levy also fared well in the 5000-meters, posting a time of 14:54.36, which ranks ninth all-time on the UCSD top-10 list. He finished 10th overall.

Teammates Matt Lenehan, Ben Rich, John Svet, Jeremy Riley and Warren Liem also ran in the 5000, finishing in 16th (15:12.07), 19th (15:14.41), 21st (15:15.37), 30th (15:23.46) and 52nd (15:47.87) places, respectively.

UCSD also had a small group competing at the 34th Annual Aztec Invitational, which was cut short on Saturday due to heavy rainfall in the San Diego area.

Junior Shaun Tu had a standout performance for the Tritons in the men's long jump, placing second overall with a mark of 23'4". His jump ranks fourth all-time at UCSD.

"With finals week coming up, we had a small group of athletes competing this week," women's head coach Darcy Ahner said. "The distance runners had a strong showing at Oxy with a number of lifetime bests and Aaryn led the way with a new school record. At Aztec, Shaun braved the rain and had a lifetime best in the long jump against a good field of jumpers."

The Tritons will be back in action next weekend when they take part in the Point Loma Open on Friday and Saturday on the PLNU campus.