Runners place high in Las Vegas meet

The dice rolled in favor of the Long Beach State women's cross country team Saturday at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas, but things were not so lucky for the men's team.

The women's team placed third out of six teams at the meet, which was held at Sunset Park. The men's team came in second in a dual meet with Southern Utah.

The LBSU women beat their rivals, San Diego State, by one point. They had lost to SDSU four times already this season.

San Diego's team is one "that all season we've said that we could beat," said Assistant Coach Dana Colligan Gutierrez.

The win over SDSU was aided by LBSU's top three runners, who beat San Diego State's top runner, Sophia Hawker. Hawker placed 11th overall, and came in second for her team. Colligan Gutierrez said her team has been chasing Hawker down the past couple of meets.

The top three for LBSU also placed in the top 10 overall. Senior Mary Colburn led the team with a third place finish at 18:57.0 and senior Christine Riel came in fourth at 18:57.3. Freshman Drea Palacio placed tenth with a time of 19:17.8.

The third, fourth and fifth place runners for LBSU--Palacio, Diane Mendoza and Lindsey Mettam--had a big impact on the team's third place finish.

"They stepped up and really made the difference," Colligan Gutierrez said.

The men's team was hoping for a closer race with Southern Utah, which finished with 18 points while Long Beach State ended with 43.

"We didn't expect to win, but looking at past results we had a chance," said LBSU captain Derek DeCicco. "A lot of them [SU's runners] raced a lot better than they should have."

Two of the LBSU men placed in the top 10. Freshman Aaron Durham ran 25:39 for a fourth place finish, while DeCicco came in sixth at 26:04.5.

The next meet for the LBSU cross country team is Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Big West Conference championships hosted by UC Santa Barbara.