DAVIS, Calif. – UC San Diego cross country proved a force to be reckoned with against a slew of Big West competitors in the second annual UC Davis Stump Invite on Friday, September 10. Freshmen women
Emily Richards and
Sylvana Northrop's strong performances propelled the Triton women to a second-place finish, and an impressive final leg from
Gabriel Reuter held the men's team solidly in fourth.
"In our first year of Big West Competition, it was awesome to get to test ourselves against so many strong teams," said UC San Diego head coach Nate Garcia.
The men and women competed in a field of Big West competition that included UC Davis, Cal Poly, CSUN, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Barbara. Non-conference opponents San Francisco raced both its men's and women's teams and San Diego State rounded out the women's event.
"I'm very proud of how our teams competed today," said Garcia. "Both groups packed up and worked together well. It was definitely a team effort on both sides."
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the women's 6k event, the Tritons finished second as a team with 94 points behind a strong UC Davis team (23 points). The Aggies women had five top 10 finishers, including second, third and fourth place. Richards crossed the line in 20:35.9 (13th overall), just sixth tenths of a second behind the runner ahead of her. Northrop finished right behind Richards in 14th with a time of 20:41.6. A strong kick in the final 2k moved
Caitlin Billman up five spots into 17th to secure the second-place finish for UC San Diego.
The men's team finished fourth in the 8k race. Reuter once again led the Tritons on the men's side. Reuter moved up an impressive seven spots in the final 2k leg to finish 16th with a time of 24:11.1. The junior fell back a few spots near the halfway mark, but a trio of Triton men packed up to support each other. Reuter was followed up by
Jonathan Rodriguez, who crossed the line in 24:17.0 to round out the top 20.
Andrew Thomas had a strong performance as well, running 24:2.4 for a 26th place finish.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego cross country has the week off, but returns to action in two weeks on Friday, September 24 for the Roy Griak Invite in Minneapolis, Minn. This will be the squads first out of state meet since 2019.
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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.
