Results

STANFORD, Calif. -- It was an historic day for the Cal State East Bay men's cross country team at the 2016 Stanford Invitational, as freshman Pedro Cruz turned in the fastest 8k time by a Pioneer runner since the program joined the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). 

Overall, the young East Bay squad finished 12th in a loaded field of teams representing all three NCAA Divisions at Stanford Golf Course. For the day, six of CSUEB's top seven finishers were freshmen.

Cruz crossed the finish line in 24:40.0, making him the first CSUEB runner of the CCAA era to break 25 minutes during an 8k competition. He placed 49th in the overall field, and finished 10th among Division II runners to lead the Pioneer men.

"Today was an exciting day," said head coach Tony Nicolosi. "We had a tough two weeks of training, so I didn't necessarily bank on seeing times as fast as we saw two weeks ago, but this group really stepped up. Pedro had one of the historically great performances in our program's history. We had great support behind him, but we need our pack to work together if we want to be in the mix at conference or regional championships."

Another rookie, Deion Molina, continued to impress early in his collegiate career. He placed 84th overall in 25:27. Sophomore Israel Sotelo was CSUEB's third finisher in 95th place with a time of 25:43, followed by four more freshman in Leo Skellenger (26:07.7), Miguel Morales (26:20.4), Alberto Venegas (26:31.3), and Christian Moncada (26:44.7). 

Juniors Kyle Fetter (26:47.1) and Noah Siegel (27:39.4) rounded out East Bay's morning on the peninsula.

The Pioneers return to action next weekend at another Bay Area meet, the SF State Invitational, next Friday Oct. 7 in Golden Gate Park.