MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. – UC San Diego opened its 2022 cross country season by competing in a dual meet with UCLA on Thursday morning. Triton freshman Emma Dunmire paced UC San Diego on the women's side with a third place finish while the men's team was led by junior Zeno Castiglioni, who finished fourth overall.
 
The Bruins won the dual by a score of 18-44 on the women's side and 17-40 on the men's.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
In her first race as a Triton, Dunmire posted a time of 10:00.7 to finish third overall behind UCLA's Emma Tavella and Mia Kane. Dunmire was one of three Tritons to finish in the top ten. She was joined by sophomores Emily Richards and Sylvana Northrop in the top ten overall. Richards was eighth (10:17.7) and Northrop finished tenth (10:18.8).
 
In the men's race, Castiglioni was UC San Diego's top finisher. He was fourth with a time of 11:30.1. Three other Triton runners finished in the top ten: sophomore Charlie Frank was seventh (11:43.0), freshman Michael Julian was eighth (11:47.1), and grad student Brett Beattie finished ninth overall (11:48.0).
 
QUOTABLE
"It was a great morning out on the course today," said UC San Diego head coach Nate Garcia '00. "The team showed good resilience with some last-minute changes and put out a tremendous effort. UCLA is a very good team, and we are very happy that we were able to work with Coach Anderson and Coach Brosnan to put this meet together."
 
"Emma Dunmire ran a great race for her first as a Triton. She engaged really well with the UCLA pack and was absolutely fearless over the last 1k," Garcia added. "We are extremely excited for what will come next for her. On the men's side, Zeno Castiglioni executed the race plan perfectly. He is a tremendous leader on this team, and it is very rewarding to see him put together a very strong race today. Overall the team looks good. We have had a killer few weeks of training and we will be ready for the races to come over the next couple months."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Castiglioni's fourth place finish was his first top ten placement as a Triton.
• The UC San Diego cross country program is in its second season competing as a Division I institution.
• The dual with UCLA marked the end of the Tritons' annual training session in Mammoth Lakes – a tradition that began in the early 1990s.

UP NEXT
The Tritons are back on the trail September 17 when UC San Diego travels to Riverside to take part in the Riverside Invitational, hosted by UC Riverside on its UCR Agricultural Operations Course. Race times are scheduled for 7:15 a.m. (women) and 7:50 a.m. (men).
 
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.