Utah wins Beach meet

By Jennifer Umaña
Daily Forty-Niner

The only home meet of the season for the Long Beach State cross country team was a different experience for the athletes as the majority of people in attendance were cheering them on.

The 3rd Annual Long Beach Cross Country Invitational was held at El Dorado Park East, where the Long Beach State men's team finished second out of seven teams and the women were fourth out of nine.

"It was nice to have a home meet," senior Christine Riel said, adding that it was good to have fans there.

Assistant Coach Dana Colligan Gutierrez agreed.

"It was a cool thing to have so many fans and so much support for Long Beach," she said.

CROSS COUNTRY

Colligan Gutierrez pointed out that the women had a breakthrough performance at the meet, most notably with the efforts of senior Mary Colburn and freshman Drea Palacio.

"Drea didn't have the fastest time, but she had the best collegiate race," Colligan Gutierrez said. Palacio finished 20th out of 93 runners at 19:10.

Riel also felt that this was a successful meet for the women.

"We ran well, especially for having only five girls running," she said.

On the men's side, Colligan Gutierrez noted the performance of senior Fred Becerra, who placed 25th out of 77 runners at 26:27.

"He really focused on what he was doing," she said. "He put himself in the position to be there during the kick."

Both Palacio and Becerra worked carefully on their race strategies, she said.

The top 10 runners for both the men and women included two Long Beach State runners.

Senior Larry Henderson placed seventh in the men's 8K with a time of 25:39 and freshman Aaron Durham ran the course in 25:50 to place 10th.

In the women's 5K, Colburn placed sixth with a time of 18:18, while Riel was ninth with a time of 19:33.

The University of Utah placed well on both sides, with a first place finish in the men's team division and a second place finish for the women's team.

"The University of Utah has a really solid team," Colligan Gutierrez said.

"I don't think we're there yet, but we have the potential to be that kind of team," she said. "We still have some things to work on, and we just need to get experience and get stronger with age."

The next meet for the Long Beach State cross country team is the UNLV Invitational Saturday at Sunset Park in LasVegas, Nevada.