Newcomers lead the charge in first cross country race

IRVINE, Calif. – Sophomore Emily Ralston was the Panthers' top performer on Saturday morning as the Chapman University men's and women's cross country teams competed in their first event of the season at the adidas/UC Irvine Invitational. Nine men's runners contributed to Chapman's overall team score, however the Panthers placed 19th of 19 teams overall.

Ralston made her cross country debut for Chapman, placing 30th (of 84 runners) overall with a time of 20:41.2 in the Women's 5K "B" race which featured SCIAC opponents Cal Lutheran, Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental. Melissa Skiba from Cal Lutheran was the top finisher in the race with a time of 18:06.6.

Freshman Marisol Diaz (23:58.0) and junior Paulette Garcia (25:56.2) finished 73rd and 80th overall, however the Panthers did not have enough participants to place as a team.

On the men's side, another newcomer freshman Chris Reid earned the Panthers' lowest time in 150th place (of 229 runners) with a mark of 28:27.8 in the Men's 8K. Returning sophomores Chad King (29:24.7) and Spencer Berry (29:46.3) crossed behind Reid in 178th and 188th place overall, both more than a minute behind the pace they ran in the same event last season.

Chapman travels to UC Riverside next Saturday for its second race of the year.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Results: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/xc/2012-13/files/UCIInvite.pdf

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