PRINCETON, New Jersey – UC San Diego cross country had success on both coasts on Saturday morning. The squads split time between the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, NJ, and Big West opponent UCR's Highlander Invitational in Riverside, Calif.
At the Princeton Invite, the Triton women finished 9th overall in the 20-team field with 261 points, led by junior
Caitlin Billman. The men placed 16th with 434 points, featuring a strong performance from
Jonathan Rodriguez.
"I'm extremely happy with how both teams raced in our first trip to the east coast in a long time," said UC San Diego head coach Nate Garcia. "Both fields were large and very competitive, and we performed well. One of the benefits of our team's depth is that not everyone has to feel great on the same day for the team to be successful."
Princeton Invite
In the women's 6.1k event, the Tritons had three top 60 finishers. Billman crossed the line first for UC San Diego in 22:50.3, finishing 41st. The junior got out to a strong start and held her position through the finish. Freshman
Sylvana Northrop finished 56th in a time of 23:20.1 and
Isabelle Shepherd rounded out the top 60 with a time of 23:25.1.
"Our tight pack of women really paid off today with a top 10 finish, beating another regionally ranked opponent [Temple- #13 Mid-Atlantic]," said Garcia.
Rodriguez finished 63rd in the men's 8k event, moving up nine spots in the final leg in a time of 25:44.0. Freshman
Ian Gerth put up an impressive performance with a time of 26:00.9 in 91st, followed by
Marcos Milla in 108th in a time of 26:12.6. The men finished one place higher than originally seeded even without the services of
Zeno Castiglioni who led the pack last time out.
UCR Highlander Invite
The women's Highlander Invite squad finished 17th out of 25 teams and the men finished 19th out of 26 teams.
Andrew Schulz (25:14.1) and
Jordan Haney (25:32.9) both finished in the top 100 in the 290-athlete field in the 8k event, while
Tess Rounds (22:36.2) and
Hailey Kirsch (22:43.1) led the women in the 6k, finishing in 78th and 88th respectively.
UP NEXT
UCSDTritons.com will update cross country's schedule when more information is available. Follow @UCSDXC on Twitter and Instagram to be notified on any schedule updates.
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About UC San Diego Athletics After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
