While the first day of fall officially arrived on September 22^nd, in many locations across the country fall weather arrived a week early.  With the crisper air came some fast times and exciting races. The results of last weekend’s meets will change the national and regional rankings. As usual, I urge readers to comment for there are many meets every weekend and I sometimes miss results.  Help me out for Flotrack is a community!

Coyotes Cross Country Invitational- UC San Diego runners captured the team titles in the women’s 6k and the men’s 8k.  The women took the title with 30 points followed by Cal Poly Pomona with 63 points. UC San Diego’s Bre Schofield won the race in 22:09 over Cal Poly Pomona’s Tiffany Turner (22:23) and  UC San Diego’s Amanda Kuehn (23:17).

            In the men’s team title, UC San Diego scored 29 points over Cal Poly Pomona’s 43 points and Cal State Stanislaus’s 94 points.  Cal Poly Pomona’s Jersain Torres won the race in 25:25 followed by UC San Diego’s Jake Levieux (25:32) and Point Loma Nazarene’s Landon Bright (25:49).

Limestone College Invitational- Limestone’s women scored 62 points to capture their home meet title, barely besting Catawba’s 63 points. St. Andrews was third with 71 points.  Catawba’s Olivia Jacobs won the women’s 5k in a time of 18:22 and was followed by St. Andrews’s Alyson Trovato (18:27) and Francis Marion’s Kelly May (18:53).

            In the men’s team title, St. Andrews took the win with a low score of 25 points followed by Truett-McConnell College (56) and Francis Marion University (71). Francis Marion University runner, Hillary Kiprop, won the 5 mile run in a time of 25:55. He was followed by three St. Andrews runners: Mitch Cooper (25:57), Pedro Tapia Jr. (26:45), and Doug Holt (27:23).

Ferris State Bulldog Invitational- In the women’s team title, Findlay’s women took top honors with 35 points, followed by Hillsdale (73) and Ferris State (87). Findlay’s Hilary Esselstein covered the 5k course in 17:49.28, over thirty seconds ahead of the next two finishers, Northwood’s Kylen Cieslak (18:24) and Ferris’s Tina Muir (18:38).

            In the men’s team title race, Hillsdale College took top honors with 51 points. Tiffin University (71) barely edged out Lansing Community College (72) for second place. Lewis University’s Andy Lepkowski won the men’s college race covering the 8k course in 25:49. He was followed by Lansing Community College’s Addisalem Habtewold (26:15) and Hilldale’s Timothy Howse (26:19).

Asics/Winthrop Invitational- Queens’ men and women took home the team titles in the Garnett or non-DI division of the Asics Invitational.  Queens’ women finished first with 27 points followed closely by Lander’s women with 30 points. Benedict was third with 69 points. Queen’s sophomore, Jessica Neville, won the 5k race in 18:48. Lander’s Olga Nunez- Lopez was second in 19:58 and Queen’s Katie Carman was third in 20:14.

            The Queens’ men won the team title with a stellar 18 points, followed by Benedict (38) and Claflin (78).  Queens took the top three spots in the men’s race: Michael Crouch was the overall winner in a time of 24:16, followed by his teammates Oscar Ogwaro (24:26), and Futsum Mebrahtu (25:07).

*photo by Robert Whitehead/CSUSB