FINAL RESULTS

HAYWARD, Calif., — The Cal State East Bay women's cross country team put forth an encouraging performance in its opening meet of the season on Friday, placing fifth overall at the SF State Invitational at Golden Gate Park.
 
CSUEB earned 146 points, finishing just behind fourth-place Concordia (96), third place Academy of Art (84), second place Chico State (60) and and first place Simon Fraser (36).

Head coach Tony Nicolosi was really impressed with how the team shined after so much time off. "I thought the women competed well considering our considerable inexperience and the lengthy layoff," said Nicolosi. "We had the majority of our team run their first race ever for East Bay. We are not where we want to be, but we think we are going to dramatically improve over the course of the season. It was amazing to get to finally return to competing."
 
Junior Chase Worthen notched a top-15 finish claiming 13th overall with a time of 22:29.2. Fellow junior Amanda Navarro also clocked a top-20 finish crossing the finish line in a time of 22:46.3.

"Chase Worthen ran an amazing race,"expressed Nicolosi. "She's had a long layoff from college racing and I think she is going to be very tough to beat as the season progresses." 
 
Junior transfer Leza Cassidy crossed behind her at 35th overall, posting a time of 23:11.7.
 
The East Bay freshman duo of Kimberly Lima (23:46.5) and Melissa Sosa (23:52.6) placed 50th and 52nd, respectively, while senior Claire Fisher finished 64th overall in 24:26.2 and freshman Madeline Acosta collected a 68th place finish at a time of 24:39.5.
 
Freshman Ashley Trout placed 92nd after crossing the finish line in 26:52.0.
 
The CSUEB women will return to action on Sept. 24, when it competes at Western Oregon's Mike Johnson Classic in Monmouth, Ore.