The UCSD cross country team had an early start to its weekend last Saturday thanks to its latest races at the 24th annual Triton Classic, where the No. 12 men’s and No. 14 women’s teams participated in the 8K and 6K races, respectively. Both teams had stellar showings by the end of the morning, placing third in each of their races.

Men’s 8K Run:

In the first race of the day, the men’s team had some stellar running, with three runners in the top 10: redshirt seniors Tareq Alwafai (25:47:43) and Scott Acton (25:56.47) and sophomore Samuel Blake (25:57.83) finished eighth through 10th, giving UCSD the second-most runners finishing in the top 10 behind Chico State. But they were not the only strong Triton runners, as sophomore Garrett Boulais (26:07.74) finished 14th and seniors Terrence Luevano (26:13.88) and Brendan Gee (26:20.46) finished 17th and 18th, respectively. By the end of the race, the top five UCSD runners had an average time of 26:00.67 and a total score of 57, just six points behind second-place Central Arizona College and a whopping 87 points ahead of fourth-place Fresno Pacific University. Chico State dominated the field and finished first in the race with a stellar score of 23.

“The strongest thing we had was the middle group really pushing up,” UCSD head coach Nate Garcia told the Athletics Department about the men’s team. “Having that strength and depth really made the difference for us.”

Women’s 6K Run:

The women’s team had an eerily similar finish to its event thanks to senior Ella Verhees (22:30.83) and sophomore Karina Carstens (22:31.83) finishing in seventh and eighth place, respectively, tying the women’s team for first with the most runners in the top 10. Close behind were junior Merin Arft (23:01.44) at 14, junior Kristin Semancsin (23:08.17) at 16 and sophomore Christa Kloha (23:38.15) at 28, which would round out the final score at 69 and average time at 22:58.03. This would put them 15 points behind first-place Point Loma Nazarene University and just 9 points behind second-place Chico State, while giving the Tritons a solid 34-point margin with fourth-place Cal State San Bernardino.

“I saw some stuff in there I think we can really carry forward into the championships,” Garcia said of the women’s team. “A lot of schools have one fast runner. Having two is going to be a difference maker for us.”

The event concluded the regular season for the Tritons, who will have some time to prepare before heading off to Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park in Ontario to compete at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships on Oct. 22.