The San Diego State cross country team raced to a second-place finish at the Titan Invitational out of 10 teams last Friday in Fullerton.
This season has been unique for the team because it is a relatively young. Nonetheless the success its been having is amazing despite the fact that two of its top five runners from the beginning of the season are out for the rest of the year.
This season, the Aztecs have been breaking personal records. Last week was no exception as four runners broke their own personal records and one broke her collegiate personal record.
During this invitational, sophomores Chelsea Kruthers and Rachel Roesgen led the way to the finish line for the rest of the team. Kruthers came in first for SDSU and fifth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 46.5 seconds. Roesgen came in second for the Aztecs and seventh overall with a time of 17:50.0, making it her collegiate best.
UC Los Angeles earned first place in this meet with a total of 31 points, while SDSU finished second with a score of 56.
SDSU assistant coach Chris Capeau said he is proud of the team and that even though they lost a couple of decisive runners his team remains strong.
[quote]“I think it went perfect,” Capeau said. “We had five out of the seven girls running PRs.I can’t ask for more than this. UCLA is a big program and I’m sure they’ve been building up their program and that’s what we are continuing to do as well.” Capeau said.[/quote]
Juniors Katy Smith and Dynasty Gammage also performed well, followed by freshman Elaine Ribeiro. The three are part of the Aztecs top five runners this season.
Kruthers, who is the team captain, said that although she was feeling sick, she still went out there and gave her best.
“Whenever I run a race, I run my best on that given day, and you could never be upset when you put your best efforts forward,” Kruthers said. “Our team is becoming more and more confident every week, and I believe that our improvements and PRs each race show just that. As captain, I am putting my best efforts to keep the girls motivated to put their best efforts forward and hungry to fight for the win.”
Roesgen, one of the leading runners for the team, said this race helped them build up their confidence because many of them achieved new PRs again.
“We have a few gaps to fill and the girls who have been instructed to cover those gaps are more than ready,” Roesgen said. “I feel like we are very prepared to get going into our first 6k. We got all of our 5k done for the season and we are going to go for the longer distance, but I feel that after that race we did build up our confidence a lot and we know exactly what we need to do.”
Despite losing a couple runners, Capeau said the team is ready to compete in Colorado.
[quote]“As of now we just have to do our best with what we have, and I think the girls have really come together as a team and done that,” Capeau said. “They are definitely prepared to do well going into the Mountain West Championships. I think they will surprise themselves with the results as long as they allow themselves to be as competitive as the can be.”[/quote]
This Friday, SDSU will be in Colorado competing in the Mountain West Championships, where the Aztecs will no longer be running 5k, but 6k for the conference and regionals.
Photo by Monica Linzmeier, Photo Editor
