Senior Robert Eap crossed the finish line after 25 minutes, 52 seconds in 14th place, first for the Tritons, leading the UCSD cross country team to a fourth-place finish at the Stegemoller Cross Country Classic hosted by Southern Indiana University in Evansville, Ind. The women’s team finished the race in sixth place as sophomore All-American Tina Firouz topped the Triton effort with a 16th-place individual performance in 23:32.
The Triton men’s team completed the event with a collective score of 132, slipping ahead of California Collegiate Athletic Association rival Cal Poly Pomona, which finished with a team score of 134, despite the fact that the top-two finishers in the 166-competitor field ran for the Broncos squad.
Junior Chris Beetly-Hagler finished the race practically on pace with Eap to record a 17th-place finish in a time of 25:59, as freshman Mitch Steves trailed by less than 15 seconds for a 23rd-place finish at 26:10. Junior Carl Lostrom was close in pursuit, crossing the finish line in 28th place at 26:17.
Rounding out the Tritons’ scorers was senior Luke Sigmon, who narrowly edged Cal Poly Pomona’s fifth and final scoring racer James Tawney for 50th place, 26:42 to 26:43.
For the women’s team, in a race that was so close that every second lost seemed to account for two or three places at the finish line, the Tritons suffered a narrow, one-point deficit to Stonehill College. Three Stonehill competitors finished the race ahead of Firouz; one of those athletes was eight seconds in front, while another out-kicked Firouz to a fifth-place finish by just two seconds.
Senior Lindsey Young cruised into a 21st-place finish at 24 minutes flat, while freshman Amanda Burkhart pulled in at 24:11 to earn 24th place. Freshman Diane Dunn took 30th place in 24:25 and sophomore Becky Cherry finished her race in 24:59 to take 48th place.
Although the team wasn’t able to surmount Stonehill, the Tritons left seventh-place Cal Poly Pomona no chance, as the Broncos finished 46 points behind UCSD.
Having the opportunity to run the course at Southern Indiana may prove beneficial later in the season for UCSD, since this will be the same course that competitors will run for the 2004 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on Nov. 20. In 2003, the Triton men’s team took 15th place at the event and the women turned in a 16th-place finish.
