The UC San Diego cross country team attended the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships at River Oaks Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 21. The men’s cross country team placed fifth overall out of 10 teams, and the women placed sixth overall out of 12 total teams.

In the men’s race, two Tritons stood out. Junior Aren Johnson (24:53.2) finished in 12th place and sophomore Tim Corvese (25:38.1) finished in 25th. Senior Garrett Lepine (25:44.8), junior Joey Benrubi (25:50.3), and junior Garrett Boulais (25:50.7) came in at 30th, 31st, and 32nd respectively.

For the women’s team, four Tritons placed in the top-50, with senior Merin Aft coming in one place shy at 51.

Two of UCSD’s racers placed in the top-25. Senior Ella Verhees came in at 11th place 21:38.6 and senior Kristin Semancsin had a 21:42.1 finish that was good enough for 14th place.

“We weren’t able to accomplish what we were aiming for, but there were a number of strong individual performances on both sides,” UCSD head coach Nate Garcia told UCSD Athletics. “We will get back to work and look to race even better (at regionals) in a couple weeks.”

The Tritons will begin preparation for the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 4 in Monmouth, Oregon.