SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay men's cross country team placed 23^rd overall at Haggin Oaks Golf Course Saturday morning at the Capital Cross Challenge 8K.

The Pioneers earned 592 points to finish just behind Dixie State (575) and ahead of Division-I program St. Mary's (600).

"We saw some good performances today," said Cal State East Bay head coach Tony Nicolosi. "This is an incredibly young team and this was the biggest, fastest race any of those guys have been in.

"This (west) region will show you how far you have to go, but I think we are pretty close to a breakout performance soon."

Sophomore Xavier Smith paced the Pioneers with a 40^th-place finish behind a time of 24-minutes, 50.0-seconds, which is good for No. 2 all-time in the Cal State East Bay record books. Senior Esteban Leon's 70^th-place performance in 25:08.5 ranks No. 6 all time.

Sophomore Bryan Llopis earned 148^th after crossing the finish line in 25:48.0, freshman John Robert Bradshaw was 185^th (26:10.1), junior Jeremy Shaw placed 209^th (26:25.6) and freshman Jared Berryman finished 211^th (26:26.2).

 The Pioneers return to action at the SF State Invitational on Friday, Oct. 11, beginning at 2:40 p.m.