Cross Country Posts Top School Performances at Highlander Classic

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Ami Jacobson and Camilo Torres paced the Matadors in the Highlander Invitational at the UCR Ag Ops Course hosted by UC Riverside on Saturday morning. The CSUN men finished in sixth place in the 8k while the CSUN women finished in 14th place in the 6k. Torres ran the second fastest 8k time in school history. The collective average for the men at 24:41 is the fastest time in school history.

WOMEN
Jacobson set a new personal best and ran the fourth fastest time in Matador history. Her time of 21:19.4 was good enough to lead the Matadors and earn the senior from Los Angeles 32nd place. Following Jacobsen in the standings was Lilit Arakelyan. The junior from Glendale, Calif. crossed the finish line at 21:59.6. She slotted in at 76th place.

Nadia Munoz, the junior running in her hometown, finished just in the top 100 at 99th place. She ran a 22:16.1 time in the 6k. Senior Savannah Ganter wasn't too far behind Munoz. The Yucaipa, Calif. native crossed the finish line in 105th place at 22:23.2. Brianna Torres, the junior from Oxnard finished in 117th place with a time of 22:33.3

Sakura Divecchio, the grad student from Alhambra, was sixth in the CSUN depth chart this morning. Her time of 22:56.6 earned her 148th place.

Rounding out the Top 150 and the top seven for the Matadors was Yadira Arnold. Arnold ran a time of 22:58.7, which earned her 150th place.

CSUN finished with 377 points, good enough for 14th place. UC San Diego took home first place with a score of 37. CBU was second with a score of 84.

MEN
Torres set a new personal best and broke his own second best time in CSUN history with a mark of 24:12.5. That time was good enough for 21st place as he led the Matadors.

Following Torres was Elijah Stenberg. Stenberg, the sophomore from West Lafayette, Ind., His time of 24:28.2 cracks the top three in Matador history, as he beat his own personal best set in his most recent race, the UCR XC Invite. He placed in 39th.

Thomas Achten etched his name in the record books as well. Achten, like Stenberg, set a previous personal best the last time they both ran back on Sept. 27. Today, Achten was stellar once again. His time of 24:29.3 is the fourth fastest in school history, eclipsing his own personal best set three weeks ago. That time was good enough for 42nd place overall in the meet.

Ranking fourth for the Matadors was freshman Adam Divinity. Divinity, the Redondo Beach native, finished in 86th place with a time of 25:10.2.

In fifth for CSUN was Ramiro Mateos. Mateos, the senior from Oxnard, finished at the end of the top 100 at 97th place with a time of 25:17.8.

At sixth for the Matadors was Robert Guerrero. Guerrero set a new personal best 25:28.7. His time slotted him at 110th. Rounding out the top seven for CSUN was Diego Rodriguez. Rodriguez's time of 25:42.3 earned him 128th.

ACCORDING TO COACH JASON ZARB-COUSIN
"Really happy with the performances on both sides. Today was an opportunity to see where we are as a team going into the end of the season. The men collectively took a huge step forward getting 6th in a very competitive field. We had 6 of 12 men run personal best times. Our scoring team's average time of 24:41 is the fastest in school history and shaved off 13 seconds from their previous race on the same course. The women also raced well overall but there is room for improvement. We have two weeks until the Big West Championships and look to make some adjustments to improve upon what we have done so far this year."

UP NEXT
CSUN will compete next at the Titan Invite on October 24th, the last regular season race.

Cross Country Posts Top School Performances at Highlander Classic

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Players Mentioned

Thomas Achten

Lilit Arakelyan

Yadira Arnold

Sakura Divecchio

Adam Divinity

Savannah Ganter

Robert Guerrero

Ami Jacobson

Ramiro Mateos

Nadia Munoz

Diego Rodriguez

Elijah Stenberg

Brianna Torres

Camilo Torres