On Saturday morning, the San Diego State cross country team placed fourth overall at the Highlander Invitational in Riverside.

The improvement of each individual is making an impact on the Lady Aztecs team as they work as a unit and build up from last season.

Sophomores Chelsea Kruthers and Rachel Roesgen continue to guide the team. However, the remainder of the group helped pull off this favorable result this past weekend.

The University of Southern California was neck-and-neck with the Aztecs for fourth place, but in the end SDSU clinched the position with an overall score of 92. USC finished three points behind with a score of 95.

SDSU assistant coach Chris Capeau said what gave them the advantage against the Trojans was the fact that his squad ran as a team.

[quote]“They are exactly where I like them to be, especially in such a short period of time that I had with these girls and I love it,” Capeau said. “They are getting better and better each week and a bunch of girls are running lifetime (personal records) almost every week, so this is a great thing to see and to be around. I think we just need to keep building off of that.”[/quote]

Kruthers placed No. 9 out of 91 runners with a time of 17:55.8. Roesgen concluded No. 14 with a time of 18:05.3.

[quote]“I was expecting to do a little bit better. I had a goal set and I reached that today, but I feel like overall I just went out there and gave everything I got and 14th wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, so I think there is a little bit of disappointment,” Roesgen said. “We are on the right track and today we actually shortened our spread a little bit between fifth and sixth runner. I think we are moving in the right direction.”[/quote]

Juniors Jessica Cygan, Dynasty Gammage and Katy Smith placed within the top 30 runners of this race.

“One of our goals was to beat USC, so I am really glad that we did,” Roesgen said. “Overall I think we accomplished our goal in that aspect, but we are looking to take out other teams besides USC. I’m very positive and am still looking forward to the future, but I need to focus on each race and go out there and do what I know I can do.”

The Aztecs have less than a week before they participate in the Titan Invitational in Fullerton on Oct. 25.

[quote]“I can’t wait to show everyone just how good we are at the upcoming meets,” Kruthers said. “Although I didn’t race as well as I wanted to personally, I believe that the girls and I have really come together today and felt what it was like to race as a team for the first time, rather than individually.”[/quote]

Photo by Monica Linzmeier, Photo Editor.