FRESNO, Calif.-- The Roadrunner cross country team competed in its second meet of the year on Friday morning at the Fresno State Invitational. Once again, LaShya Morgan (So., Bakersfield, Calif., Ridgeview HS) paced the 'Runners as the squad ran the 4200m Woodward Park course among a field of 66 student-athletes.
Morgan crossed the finish line in 27th place overall with a time of 16:02.8, while all of Bakersfield's scoring five finished in the Top 40 out of 66 runners. Angel Valdez (Fr., Bakersfield, Calif., East HS) finished second for the 'Runners in 32nd with a time of 16:22.2. Just two spots behind Valdez, Megan Thompson (R-Sr., Fellows, Calif., Taft Union HS) crossed the line with a time of 16:28.6. Ariana Mariscal (So., Bakersfield, Calif., North HS) and Orieth Rodriguez (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif., Bakersfield College) rounded out the scoring five, finishing the race in 37th and 39th, respectively, with times of 16:45.3 and 16:54.7.
While the 'Runners struggled to keep pace with the top teams, Bakersfield's overall result was positive. Only 52 seconds separated the first Roadrunner to finish from the fifth while the sixth was only one minute, three seconds off of Morgan's time. Fresno State's team won the competition with an average team time of 15:03.14. The 'Runners finished fifth among the five NCAA Division I teams and fifth overall in a field of eight squads.
“We got out better than last week, running a little more aggressively and with a little more confidence,” said Bakersfield's Director of Cross Country, Marcia Mansur-Wentworth. “We still need to work on our middle part of the race. We beat all of the non-Division I schools and knew that we would fall behind the top Division I teams. I expected us to be a little more competitive with San José State, but they packed it up better than we did. Overall, it's a step in the right direction.”
The Roadrunners will take next weekend off before returning to action with the Mustang Challenge 5k. Bakersfield will head to Santa Clarita to take on the meet hosted by The Masters College on Saturday, Sept. 20.
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