Final Results

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Cal State East Bay women's cross country team turned in an impressive overall performance on Friday afternoon to take third place at the annual SF State Invitational in Golden Gate Park.

Led by a pair of top-five individual finishers, the Pioneers bested nine schools in the 12-team meet with 64 points. Biola captured first place with 39 points and Academy of Art narrowly edged the Pioneers for second with 60. Both those squads are among the best in the Pacific West Conference. 

Perhaps most significantly, East Bay defeated the host Gators by a wide margin. SF State, which last year placed four spots ahead of CSUEB at CCAA Championships with a fifth place showing, totaled 96 points in this race to earn fourth. The Gators were just ahead of Western Oregon in fifth, as well as fellow CCAA foe Sonoma State in sixth.

"This was an awesome day for us," said head coach Tony Nicolosi. We focused on working as a pack with a few groups for the first two miles and it paid off. This a talented team that's training very hard for the end of the season, so it's really exciting to see us performing this well this early."

Redshirt freshman Angelina Ronquillo continued her impressive rookie season by leading the Pioneers with a third place individual finish. Ronquillo completed in the 6k course in 22:18.6, just eight seconds off the lead.

She was followed closely by Cecilia Carretero, who took fifth place just two weeks after setting the school 6k record in Ceres. The senior turned in a time of 22:31.2.

Sophomore Claire Fisher (23:18.5) and junior Andrea Romero (23:29.5) both notched top-20 finishes as well, winding up in 14th and 18th place, respectively. Newcomer Caitlin Amburgey was East Bay's fifth scoring runner, finishing 29th in 23:56.4.

Katherine Embody was close behind in 34th place with a time of 24:01.4, followed by Alondra Castro Ortiz in 43rd (24:16.9) and Jodi Go in 64th (25:04.0).

The Pioneers will be back in action next week against a strong field of teams Saturday, Sept. 29 at Sacramento State's annual Capital Cross Challenge at Haggin Oaks Golf Course.