Photos by Michael Leone
Photos by Michael Leone

Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Land on Podium for Second-Straight Week

The men's and women's cross country team hit the trails in Oceanside, CA for the Palomar Invitational on Friday morning. The Tigers continued to perform well with the men and women both finishing on the podium for the second-straight meet. The men placed second, while the women finished in third place.

Men

Sophomore Enrique Villa acted as the top set of legs for the Tigers for the second-consecutive meet by placing third overall. He crossed the finish line at a time of 21:12. He missed the second-place slot by a slim margin. Sophomore Austin Dai continued his early-season consistency with a sixth-place showing with a mark of 21:38.

Freshman Tyler Graves was the third-best finisher for Riverside by coming in 18th place with a 22:23 mark, while freshman Matthew Lieberman followed with a 22:32 finishing time.

"The guys ran a solid race today, but we have a lot of work to do over the next two months to get to the level that we think this team can get to," said Head Coach Jim McCarron.

Women

Sophomore Sujey Esteva followed up her third-place showing last Friday with a 10th-place finish on the day. She was Riverside's top finisher with a time of 20:48. Freshman Ariel Martinez was nipping at her heels with a time of 21:15 to place 15th overall.

Freshman Aliy Camacho earned a 19th place time that read 21:40, while freshman Sandra Espinoza backed her with a 25th place finished with a clip of 22:02.

Riverside continues action on Friday, September 14 at Cerritos Regional Park in the Southern California Preview.