Results (PDF)

ONTARIO, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay women's cross country team posted its best ever finish at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships on Saturday, taking seventh place in the 11-team field at Guasti Regional Park.

Chico State claimed its ninth straight team championship, with Cal Poly Pomona taking second place.

Since joining the conference in 2009, the Pioneers had never finished higher than ninth as a team at the Championship meet. And after graduating their top two runners from the 2015 squad, including a former All-CCAA honoree, East Bay wasn't saddled with elevated expectations heading into 2016. But the upperclassmen returners stepped up, and this Pioneer team spent most of the Fall out-performing expectations. They continued that when it counted most on Saturday with an impressive race to beat four teams on the 6k course. 

Senior Kelsey Lamb is the embodiment of the team's success. A former Pioneer soccer player, she decided to make the switch to cross country as a junior. By her second season, she was the best runner on the team and turned in the fastest 6k time in program history at the UC Riverside Invitational. This morning, she placed 29th in the field of 118 runners and scored 24 points to lead the Pioneers with a time of 22:47.4.

Junior newcomer Dana Pollard also ran an excellent race to take 42nd place and score 34 points with a time of 23:15.5. Lamb and Pollard kept pace with several runners from Chico, Pomona, UC San Diego, and Humboldt State, four of the top-10 teams in the West Region.

Senior Sarah Perrin improved her CCAA Championship time from last year by more than a minute to finish 52nd in 23:28.7 and score 42 points. 

Senior Kandace Compton (24:33.0) scored 60 points with a 77th place finish, followed by freshman Megan Satterfield (24:43.7) with 63 points in 83rd place. Andrea Romero (24:59.3) kept a close pace as well, taking 90th place with 67 points, while fellow freshman Alondra Castro Ortiz (26:06.9) rounded out the scoring with 74 points in 104th place.

Sophomore Taryn Stevenson (26:19.8) placed 107th, freshman Brittney Duquette (27:16.4) took 111th, and senior Suzanne Bateson (27:55.4) finished 114th to close out a memorable morning for the Pioneers in Southern California.

CSUEB will now look ahead to the NCAA DII West Regionals, taking place in two weeks in Billings, Mont.