Running against a tough field of athletes, junior
Roadrunner Jazmin Lopez (Baldwin Park, Calif., Mt. San Antonio College,
Baldwin Park HS) placed 27th to lead the CSU Bakersfield Cross
Country team at the Cal State Northridge Invitational on Saturday.
Lopez clocked a time of 22 minutes, 54.93 seconds on the 6K
course and in doing so improved her time from a week ago at the Triton Classic
by 40 seconds.
"The quality of the competition was probably the best we
have faced this year," said CSUB head coach Ashley Benson. "Jazmin proved her
ability to hang with the top women in the race but fell into a tough spot when
she got gapped between two big packs about two-thirds of the way through the
race."
Cecila Lopez (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif., North HS) finished
in 55th place (23:40.83), Monica Guzman (So., Bakersfield, Calif.,
Garces HS) took 57th (23:46.83), Melisa Cruz (Jr., Bakersfield,
Calif., West HS) placed 71st (24:15.18) and Judith Mata (Sr.,
Oxnard, Calif., Rio Mesa HS) took 82nd (24:39.96).
"Monica Guzman really had a breakthrough performance today,"
Benson said. "She had a fire in her eye that really impressed me."
Over 99 women competed in the race and close to a dozen
teams including USC, Houston, UC Santa Barbara, UNLV, Cal State Fullerton, UC
Irvine and Cal State Northridge. CSUB placed ninth as a team.
"We need to work on running better as a pack and once we
accomplish that, our score amongst other teams will improve greatly.
The 'Runners will compete in their final regular season meet
of the year on Oct. 21 at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton, Calif. with the
NCAA Division I West Regional approaching on Nov. 12 in Palo Alto, Calif.
~www.GoRunners.com~
