Results

CHICO, Calif. – Freshman Sarah Perrin turned in an outstanding performance to lead the Pioneer women's cross country team to a ninth place finish at the CCAA Championships on Saturday morning and claim 'Freshman of the Year' honors. The championship meet was hosted by Chico State, which captured its sixth straight CCAA title with 29 points.

Cal State East Bay, which totaled 191 points, finished ahead of Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State. East Bay was eight points shy of eighth place Cal State San Bernardino. 

Perrin, who prepped at James Logan High School in Union City, Calif., finished in 11th place out of 100 competitors. She completed the 6k course at Hooker Oak Park in the time of 22:48.1, earning her CCAA All-Conference honors. As the top freshman finisher, she was also named the conference's Freshman of the Year. She's the first East Bay runner to be named All-CCAA and the first to win a postseason award since the Pioneers joined the conference. 

"Sarah ran an exceptional race," Pioneer head coach Ralph Jones said. "She really stepped up as a freshman. I'm happy with the way Sarah has performed all season."

Robin McClinton was the Pioneers' second finisher, taking 39th place in 23:39.4. "Robin is getting herself in good shape and is improving with each race," Jones said. 

Oddessy Tapia was 43rd in 23:47.9, while Imani Heath finished close behind in 45th place in 23:52.7. Alexa Torres turned in a time of 24:14.9 to take 53rd place. Julie Scully finished in 58th place, with a mark of 24:29.2. Celina Vera concluded the scoring for the Pioneers with a 67th-place finish in 25:13.5.

Angie Gonzales (25:27.2) and Iris Martinez (26:41.9) rounded out the Pioneers' performance on Saturday.

"We had some things go wrong today," Jones  said. "But all told, we came within 35 points of being a top-five team in the CCAA."

East Bay will be competing next in the NCAA Division II West Regionals on November 9th.

"The regionals will give us an opportunity to turn the tables on some of the CCAA teams that finished ahead of us today," Jones said. "I would like to see us finish the season on a positive note."