The San Diego State cross country team bounced back from an average performance in its season opener to a first place finish at the Adidas/UCI Invitational in Irvine on Saturday morning.

The runner that led the way to this Aztec conquest was sophomore Laura Vazquez, who completed the race in third place out of 134 runners with a personal best time of 18:24.5. She was then followed by another sophomore, Chelsea Kruthers, who placed fifth with a time of 18:33.9. Behind them came two more SDSU runners, sophomore Rachel Roesgen, who came in eight overall with a time of 18:43.4 and junior Jessica Cygan with a time of 18:46.1 and ninth place overall.

In addition, junior Katy Smith and freshman Elaine Ribeiro finished the meet within the top 20 to round up this remarkable exhibition. This concluded with the Lady Aztecs’ first victory of the season.

The win was primarily achieved because the Aztecs had four runners finish in the top 10.  SDSU was placed in the top of the 5,000-meter race with 41 points, its closest competitor being The Master’s College, which finished behind SDSU with a gap of 36 points.

If the team continues to display such efforts and maintain these results, it’s not hard to appoint them as potential contenders for this season’s tittle. Even though this is a young team these athletes have showed they are improving week by week.

In less than a week, Vazquez has proven she is an example of this development when she placed 20th at the Mark Covert Classic in Brea and then finished in the top three on Saturday.

Last week only eight teams participated in the Mark Covert Classic and the Aztecs placed fifth overall. Saturday morning’s meet consisted of 13 teams.

SDSU’s next upcoming meet is at home on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the 69th Annual Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park.