Courtesy photo

When the San Diego State cross country team left the course Saturday, it was in a position that had escaped it thus far this season. In their last meet before the Mountain West Conference title meet, the Aztecs laid everything on the line and came out with a great race at the UNLV Invitational Saturday.

SDSU found itself in the top three for the first time all season. Junior Christal Cuadra posted a season-best time in the 5K to take fourth place in the meet. Her supporting cast also stepped up, with sophomore Celeste Tyson and freshman Brookie Dettermann finishing in the top 10.

“I was very pleased with our performance,” assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. “The course was really soft and slow, and we came out of it fine.”

This was the first meet the team had a legitimate chance to win, according to Nanista. The competition in the meet was certainly a step down from what the Aztecs have faced this season. After lacing it up against such powerhouses as Stanford and BYU, a school such as Cal State Dominguez Hills was a welcome respite for battle-weary SDSU.

The Aztecs’ main competition at the meet turned out to be USD. The Toreros’ top two runners finished first and third, which made a huge deficit for SDSU. However, the team as a whole illustrated the pack-running that allows them to remain competitive against more talented squads.

Of the five runners who placed for the Aztecs, only one finished outside of the top 15. This is an encouraging sign going into the MWC meet. If the team can stay together, it can move up in the standings considerably – as was the case at UNLV.

Another encouraging sign for SDSU was the way the Aztecs stacked up against conference rival UNLV. SDSU soundly beat UNLV, finishing ahead of a conference team for the first time this season.

“UNLV had beaten us every time we raced them this year, so it was nice to finally go out and handle them like we knew we could,” Nanista said.

The times from the race were a little slower than would have been expected, but that can be attributed to the weather and course conditions. The course was extremely soft and muddy, which caused slow times from every runner in the meet.

The team avoided any injuries from the course conditions, although at this point in the season, “there are a lot of little nagging injuries.”

The team hopes to use this win and the ensuing bye week as a springboard to success at the MWC title meet Oct. 30.

“The win is a confidence booster, but we still race in a very tough conference,” Nanista said.