San Marcos, CA - The University of La Verne cross-country team participated in the 15th Annual Cougar Challenge at Cal State University San Marcos. The meet consisted of nineteen women's teams and eighteen men's teams.
Competing in a strong field of teams, the men placed eighth in a field that was comprised of eight nationally ranked teams from the NCAA Divison II, NAIA and NCAA Division III levels. The men haven't been at full strength as they are still nursing everybody back to one hundred percent health. The elements of today's race (more hills and hotter temperatures) added to the Cougar Challenge yet inspired some peek performances from individuals on the team. Marcelo Martinez, Jose Reyes, and Efren Martin ran strong races today and freshman Mateo Cole closed out the scoring for the group. TK Berhe continued to move up the all-time ladder at La Verne, as he paced today with a time of 25:08.
The Leopard women made their mark in today's race, as they were able to participate in their first ever 6K, a first for most of the freshmen. Juniors Andrea Camacho and Sydne Ruiz both set personal records during the day's meet. The race allowed the team to gain peek competition experience that will be beneficial to the team as they began conference and national competitions. Head coach Jamie Norton was very pleased with his team's performance and the strides they were able to make today. "Overall a great day for our teams, exciting to get a taste of national level competition and show that we can hang in there. Looking forward to continuing to take steps forward as we hit October and start to really prep them more specifically for racing."
The Leopards will compete in the Pomona Invitational at Pomona Pitzer on October 8th.
