FINAL RESULTS

SAN FRANCISCO — The Cal State East Bay men's cross country team put forth an encouraging performance in its opening meet of the season on Saturday, placing eighth overall at the University of San Francisco's USF Invitational at Golden Gate Park.

CSUEB earned 197 points, finishing just behind seventh-place Santa Clara (189) and well ahead of ninth-place Dominican (275) and 10th-place Academy of Art (288).

"It went about as well as you can expect given the inexperience of our group and 566 day layoff," said East Bay head coach Tony Nicolosi. "We had some guys do really good things. We did well. We were close behind Santa Clara, and beat a bunch of Division-2 teams."
 
"There's a lot to like and a lot to work on." 

Senior Luke Calubayan finished 31st overall, pacing the Pioneers in the 8K with a personal-best time of 25-minutes, 48.8-seconds. Nicolosi described Caluabayan's run on Saturday as his best as a member of the Pioneers.

"(Calubayan) has worked extremely hard," Nicolosi said. "For a kid with his story to be our top guy, testament to how much has put into this summer. I wouldn't say I was surprised, but he ran great."

Fellow senior Julian Johnson crossed the finish line right behind him at 32nd overall, posting a time of 25:53.9.

The East Bay freshman duo of Miles Worthen (26:03.9) and Richard McKain (26:04.2) placed 44th and 45th, respectively, while senior Jeremy Shaw finished 54th overall in 26:28.3.

Sophomore John Robert Bradshaw earned 63rd overall with a time of 26:53.3, and freshman Aidan Singh placed 68th after crossing the finish line in 26:58.3.

The CSUEB men will return to action on Sept. 24, when it competes at Western Oregon's Mike Johnson Classic in Monmouth, Ore.