Photo by Micaela Castillo

Story by Billy Lopez

SAN DIEGO — The University of La Verne cross country teams showed strong efforts in moving up in distance to full college races on Friday night competing against an NCAA Division I squad and a top junior college contender at Mission Bay Park. 

The men's team placed third overall and was led by Michael Sahagun who finished second individually and set a top-10 all-time mark for La Verne in the 8k at 25:50. TK Berhe followed for La Verne, slotting a 10th place finish with a time of 26:42.

"Michael was competitive for the win," said University of La Verne cross country head coach Jamie Norton. He just fell short as he got a little too eager with 3k to go but ran an exciting race that is a top-10 all-time mark for La Verne in the 8k. He was followed by TK Berhe who ran a smart, patient, well-executed race."

Edward Carillo finished in the top-20 individually with a time of 27:10. Marcelo Martinez and Jose Reyes each notched a spot in the top-25 in the race for the Leopards. La Verne had Jared Albaugh, Efren Martin, and Santiago Herrera finish in the top-30 of the race. Rounding out the race for the Leopards were Andres Flores-Marquez and Chris Sanchez. 

The women's squad placed second overall and was led by Janelle Baeskens who finished 15th individually at 24:59. She was followed by Andrea Camacho finished 23rd individually with a time of 26:43. Rounding out the race for the Leopards were Rebecca Lee, Jannet Olivares, and Sydne Ruiz.

"Andrea Camacho had a solid debut and outkicked a USD runner which was exciting to see, and Sydne Ruiz ran her best ever 5k en route to her 6k," said Norton.

"Both teams had strong efforts moving up in distance to the full college races (6k women / 8k men). We were led once again by Janelle and Michael. Across the board, our inexperience and training fatigue showed against some really strong competition with Division 1 teams. The San Diego Mesa men are also the defending state champions in the community college division. It showed us the level that we want to be at and gave us feedback on what we need to do to get there. I'm confident that with some improvements in our race execution and fresher legs we'll be able to build off of this experience in the weeks to come."

Next Race

The Leopards will next race in the Masters University Invite next Saturday on September 25th.