The UCSD men’s and women’s cross country teams made their mark at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, held on Oct. 22 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
The Triton women raced hard and ran away with the CCAA Championship title, beating out 11 other squads, while the UCSD men placed third of six competing teams. San Francisco State hosted the event.
Senior Mimi Hodgins led the UCSD women’s squad to victory and earned the CCAA individual title for herself, as well as the league Runner of the Year honors. Her scorching first-place finish of 21 minutes, 31 seconds was 33 seconds ahead of the next competitor’s time.
UCSD also received strong performances from senior Nina Miller, with a fifth-place time of 22:12, and senior Erin O’Donnell, who placed sixth, one second behind Miller. Sophomores Emily McGregor and Diane Dunn rounded out the top five finishes for UCSD, with times of 22:14 and 22:24 in seventh and ninth places, respectively.
The first five Triton women finished within the top 10 of 89 runners in the event, and earned All-CCAA honors.
The Triton women accumulated a daunting score of 28, 17 points ahead of the second-place team. This was the third first-place finish for the women’s squad this season.
The forerunner of the Triton men’s team was senior Carl Lostrom, whose 10th-place time of 25:29 earned him All-CCAA honors.
Lostrom’s time was only a minute behind the first-place result. The Triton men collected 76 points to place behind first-place Chico State (16) and second-place Cal Poly Pomona (67).
Lostrom’s fellow seniors, Chris Beetley-Hagler and Luke Sigmon, finished strongly in 14th and 15th places, with respective times of 25:56 and 25:58. The pair joined Lostrom in earning All-CCAA honors.
The up-and-coming young talent of the team also did well in the race, with freshman Jake LeVieux and sophomore Matthew Noble placing 22nd and 25th, capping off the top five Triton men finishers. LeVieux finished in 26:29, while Noble crossed the finish with a time of 26:39 in the 8k race.
UCSD head coach Ted Van Arsdale was awarded the title of CCAA Coach of the Year in his 14th year coaching the Tritons. He received the honor for helping the Tritons to their second-ever CCAA title. UCSD won its last title eight years ago in 1997, when the school competed at the NCAA Division III level.
The men and women’s teams are coming into the home stretch of their season, and with a satisfying series of meets behind them, the Tritons will now take some well-deserved time off before their next challenge.
The teams will next travel to Cal Poly Pomona to participate in the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 5. If the teams continue with their strong performances, they will qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships. At last year’s event, the women’s squad placed 17th in a field of 24. This year’s championship event will be at Chino Hills in Pomona, Calif., on Nov. 19.
