Friday, November 10
Sacramento, Calif.
10:00 a.m.
California State University at Northridge
at
NCAA West Regional
Photo by: COPYRIGHT OWEN MAIN
Torres and Ford Lead CSUN at NCAA West Regional
11/10/2023 12:55:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
SACRAMENTO, Calif.---CSUN Cross Country concluded the fall season with standout performances at the NCAA Division I West Regional in Sacramento on Friday morning. On the women's side, Unique Ford reset the school's record book in regional competition while a trio of men's runners cracked the school's top-10 list in the 10K.
CSUN WOMEN
For the third-straight race sophomore Unique Ford led the CSUN women with a time of 21:09.8 for 98th-place points (99th overall). Her time is the best 6K time on record in school history at an NCAA West Regional, beating out the time established by Liz Camy in 2004 (21:28.7). Ford's time on Friday is the fourth-fastest on record at any 6K event with CSUN. As a team, the Matador women finished 33rd with 888 points in a 37-team field, which is the best finish as a team since 2016. Individually, Oregon State's Kaylee Mitchell won the race while Stanford won the team race.
Sophomore Camilo Torres led the way for Matador men's cross country team for the second-straight season at the NCAA West Regional. Torres finished with a time of 31:45.5 in the 10K race, charting 126th-place points (127th overall). After breaking the school's 10K mark at last year's regional, Torres posted the seventh-best time on record on Friday. As a team, CSUN came in 26th place with 723 points out of 29 teams. Stanford's Ky Robinson won the individual race while the Cardinal finished in first as a team.
"Extremely proud of the effort today. Celebrating individual and collective effort this time of the year is becoming a hallmark of this program. We did a great job managing the consistent effort necessary to compete at a high level in back-to-back championship events.
More teams entered this region meet and we met that challenge with gritty performances. Unique Ford finished in the top-100 which we haven't done in a while. We got a lot of help throughout the women's lineup, especially from Elin Markarian to shave off almost 160 points from our 2022 total. With more teams and more athletes in the race, we made great strides in our west region.
A very similar story for the men toeing the line an hour later. Camilo Torres returned to his 2022 form to lead the Matadors. We were running without Atticus Hall, who missed due to illness, but we were resilient and finished one spot better than last year and equaled our second-best finish in this meet. The young guys stepped it up. True freshman Yaseen Sardar, in his 10K debut, had a great finish to hold down a spot as our No. 3 runner.
It was an exciting day of racing. We were racing and competing with pride in the letters emblazoned on the front of the jerseys, CSUN! I am indebted to the seniors who have given so much to this program and the sacrifices that predate my arrival. I thank them for their service and dedication to the sport and teammates. Thank you to Sonia, Faith and Noah!"
#GoMatadors
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CSUN WOMEN
For the third-straight race sophomore Unique Ford led the CSUN women with a time of 21:09.8 for 98th-place points (99th overall). Her time is the best 6K time on record in school history at an NCAA West Regional, beating out the time established by Liz Camy in 2004 (21:28.7). Ford's time on Friday is the fourth-fastest on record at any 6K event with CSUN. As a team, the Matador women finished 33rd with 888 points in a 37-team field, which is the best finish as a team since 2016. Individually, Oregon State's Kaylee Mitchell won the race while Stanford won the team race.
- Junior Elin Markarian finished with a time of 22:04.1 for 158th-place points (160th overall). Her time was seven seconds faster than her time at last year's regional.
- Senior Sonia Avila also improved her time over last year's performance as she finished with a time of 22:27.0 for 188th-place points (191st overall). Her time was 12 seconds faster this year.
- Sophomore Nicole Contreras finished with a time of 23:10.3, charting 217th-place points (220th overall).
- Junior Vanessa Avila ran a time of 23:32.7, scoring 227th-place points (231st overall).
- Other Matador runners included junior Leann Hamilton who ran a time of 23:40.4 (230th-place points and 234th overall) and sophomore Rachael Simpson who finished with a time of 23:57.1 (237th-place points and 241st overall).
Sophomore Camilo Torres led the way for Matador men's cross country team for the second-straight season at the NCAA West Regional. Torres finished with a time of 31:45.5 in the 10K race, charting 126th-place points (127th overall). After breaking the school's 10K mark at last year's regional, Torres posted the seventh-best time on record on Friday. As a team, CSUN came in 26th place with 723 points out of 29 teams. Stanford's Ky Robinson won the individual race while the Cardinal finished in first as a team.
- Sophomore Cesar Cuevas was second on the men's side, running a time of 32:05.5 for 140th-place points (141st overall). Cuevas' time is the ninth-fastest on record in school history in the 10K.
- Next, freshman Yaseen Sardar ran a time of 32:08.2, charting 142nd-place points (143rd overall). Sardar also cracked the school's top-10 in the 10K, finishing with the 10th-fastest time on record.
- Junior Daniel Rodriguez finished with a time of 32:38.6, scoring 157th place points (158th overall).
- Sophomore Kai Smith would run a time of 32:40.5, charting 158th-place points (160th overall).
- Rounding out the Matador runners included senior Noah Contreras who ran a time of 32:49.3 (162nd-place points and 164th overall) and junior Ramiro Mateos who had a time of 33:45.7 (183rd-place points and 187th overall).
"Extremely proud of the effort today. Celebrating individual and collective effort this time of the year is becoming a hallmark of this program. We did a great job managing the consistent effort necessary to compete at a high level in back-to-back championship events.
More teams entered this region meet and we met that challenge with gritty performances. Unique Ford finished in the top-100 which we haven't done in a while. We got a lot of help throughout the women's lineup, especially from Elin Markarian to shave off almost 160 points from our 2022 total. With more teams and more athletes in the race, we made great strides in our west region.
A very similar story for the men toeing the line an hour later. Camilo Torres returned to his 2022 form to lead the Matadors. We were running without Atticus Hall, who missed due to illness, but we were resilient and finished one spot better than last year and equaled our second-best finish in this meet. The young guys stepped it up. True freshman Yaseen Sardar, in his 10K debut, had a great finish to hold down a spot as our No. 3 runner.
It was an exciting day of racing. We were racing and competing with pride in the letters emblazoned on the front of the jerseys, CSUN! I am indebted to the seniors who have given so much to this program and the sacrifices that predate my arrival. I thank them for their service and dedication to the sport and teammates. Thank you to Sonia, Faith and Noah!"
#GoMatadors
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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