OAKLAND, Calif. – Led by three top-10 individual finishes, the Cal State East Bay cross country teams had an impressive outing at the Mills College Invitational on Saturday morning. The Pioneer women posted their first team title of the season, led by Tiffany Duffy's top finish among attached runners, while the men took seventh in a field of more than 10 teams.

For the second straight meet, Duffy was the leader for East Bay, finishing third overall and first among the collegiate competitors with a time of 23:50 on the 6k course. Duffy was followed by Amanda McNabb just under a minute later, completing the course in 24:47 to finish fifth in the college division.

“The women really ran well as a team and are starting to run smart,” Head Coach Ralph Jones said. “I was very pleased with the way Tiffany controlled her race and Amanda stayed consistent.”

Megan McDaniel was the Pioneers' third finisher, placing 11th with a time of 25:32, while Gabriella Cruz was just 10 seconds off her pace to take 13th among the collegiate competition. Bernadette Lu wasn't far off, placing 18th in 26:01, while Nastassia Hamor, racing in her first meet since returning from the Inline Speed Skating World Championships in South Korea, rounded out the Pioneer field with a time of 27:14 to finish 34th.

“Meghan is starting to look like her old self and Bernadette has really made a big improvement after starting late,” Jones said. “I was really impressed with Gabriella's effort today and Nastassia really ran well for her first race of the year.”

The Pioneers' first-place showing marked their first team victory since the program returned to Division II competition, while Duffy's top finish among attached runners is the first for an East Bay runner since 2008 and the best individual finish since a 6th-place showing by former Pioneer Nancy Velazquez at the Bronco Invitational in 2009. Now an assistant coach for East Bay, Velazquez ran unattached on Saturday, finishing fifth overall.

“We were able to accomplish a lot without one of our top runners in Kaitlyn Smith, who I decided to rest this week for precautionary reasons,” Jones said. “We are training for October and today was a needed victory as we continue to work to improve. We still have a lot of work to do, but every small win is important.”

On the men's side, Chris Gallagher paced the Pioneers, finishing eighth among attached racers and completing the 8k course in 28:16. Erik Rodriguez came across the line in 29:47, to take 28th, while Scott Pallesen clocked a time of 30:13 to finish 33rd.

“We had a great effort today from Chris who paced the men today and Scott Pallesen, who continues to improve every week,” Jones said.

Joel Becker came in just 17 seconds behind Pallesen, taking 39th and John Vergara rounded out the Pioneer runners with a 49th-place showing in a time of 32:50.

“As a team we didn't run that well,” Jones said. “We have to be more consistent and everyone has to play their role. Today that didn't happen, but that's why we compete, to find these things out so that we can prepare for later. Scott stepped up today to fill in the gaps, but we need five guys consistently doing their job, but I'm sure we will get there in time.”

The Pioneers will look to continue to build next weekend, when they travel to Spokane, Wash., for the Erik Anderson Memorial, hosted by Gonzaga. Both teams will be racing at Plantes Ferry in Spokane on Sept. 24.