Results (PDF)

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's cross country team showed off its depth and talent on Saturday at the UC Riverside Invitational, taking fifth place among Division II schools at the 8k meet.

The Pioneers finished ahead of a dozen other teams, including Division I squad Cal State Northridge and West Region DII foes Azusa Pacific, Stanislaus State, Concordia-Irvine, and Cal State L.A.

"This men's team is surprising even me, and we're just getting started" said head coach Tony Nicolosi after the race. "We had five freshman and two sophomores in our top eight, with the top two guys approaching the school record in the 8k. We beat several teams that we couldn't even get close to last year. With a lot of time left this fall, we are going to fight to prove how far we've come over the next several weeks."

For the second straight meet to open the season, junior newcomer Chris Lessard paced the Pioneers. In a field that included DII powers Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego, he placed 34th overall and 19th among Division II runners with a time of 25:17.35.

Freshman Pedro Cruz continued the impressive start to his collegiate career with an 8k time of 25:36.86, good for 53rd place in the overall field.

Fellow newcomers Leo Skellenger (26:06.85) and Christian Moncada (26:08.01) ran together and took 90th and 91st place, respectively, followed closely by sophomore Israel Sotelo in 93rd place at 26:09.12.

Redshirt freshman Alberto Venegas was the fifth finisher for CSUEB's team score, crossing the tape in 26:19.36 in 107th place.

Newcomer Deion Molina finished 142nd overall with a time of 26:43.38. He was followed by Miguel Morales (26:55.62) in 160th, Kyle Fetter (27:13.45) in 174th, Noah Siegel (27:19.60) in 183rd, Zach Kanlong (27:40.91) in 209th, and Cameron Olson (28:46.79) in 268th.

It has been a slow build for the CSUEB men's cross country team in becoming competitive at the Division II level. But now in the program's second year under Nicolosi, the squad is posting times and team finishes that are unprecedented in the CCAA era. This Pioneer team is easily the deepest and most talented Cal State East Bay has seen since joining the conference. And it's likely the best East Bay squad since the 1980's.

How good they really are remains to be seen this Fall. After a weekend off, the Pioneers will be back in action in the Bay Area at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1.