Results: Men | Women
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Cal State East Bay men's and women's cross country teams turned in strong performances at Golden Gate Park in a tri-meet with San Francisco State and Academy of Art on Thursday morning.
The Pioneer men fell to the Gators, 17-42, and the Urban Knights, 18-45. The women's team was edged out 23-34 by SF State and 19-38 by Academy of Art.
Imani Heath ran an outstanding race and took second place overall for the Pioneers. She finished the 5800-meter course in 22:18, out-pacing the third-place runenr by 24 seconds.
A trio of returners was close behind Heath, putting on a storng kick.
Sarah Perrin (24:04),
Celina Vera (24:07), and Camille Hanen (24:08) finished 11th, 12th, and 13th, respectively.
Iris Martinez clocked in a 26:21 to take 21st place. Newcomers
Cynia Sapp (30:25) and
Chris Cortez (31:18) took 22nd and 23rd place to round out East Bay's performance.
"The women's team was very competitive today, even without a few of out more expereinced runners," said head coach
Ralph Jones. "Imani set the tone for us and ran the fastest time of any Pioneer runner under my tutelage. She has come back from her summer training in tremendous shape and prepared to have a great year. She ran a phenomenal time this early in the season and continues to improve every day."
"Our pack is also beginning to get closer together," Jones added. "As we get healthy and fitter, we will become a better more competitive team."
On the men's side,
Will Weekes ran near the front of the pack throughout the 7,250-meter course and paced East Bay with a sixth-place individual finish. The senior was timed at 24:42, notching his second straight race as the Pioneers' top finisher.
Adam Gardere crossed the finish line second for the East Bay men, placing 15th in 25:45. Fellow freshmen
David Caballero (26:03) and
Latee Piggee (26:10) were not far behind in 16th and 17th place, and senior
Daniel Damian (26:13) took 18th to round out the team's top-five runners.
Freshman
Zach Kanlong finished in 27:31 to take 21st place. Junior
Orlando Ramirez checked in at 28:43 with a 23rd place finish, and freshman
Leo Theus III closed out East Bay's morning with a time of 29:55 to place 25th.
"Today was a good test for the men, going up against the Nos. 9 and 10 ranked teams in the West Region," said Jones. "They competed admirably and showed considerable improvements in their performances compared to last week. We accomplished our goal of getting better today, but we need to improve on our aggressiveness if we want to get closer to teams like these two."
"This was the first time running an 8k for many of our newcomers," Jones noted. "As a group, we are learning every meet how to compete at the college level and how to race as a team. Adam and David are getting better every day and really raced well today. We have a good nucleus of young guys, and I was very proud of their performances and the way they represented East Bay."
Next up for the Pioneers, the teams travel south to San Bernardino for the "Coyote Classic" CCAA Preview Meet on Saturday, Sept. 27.
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