Women's cross country on the winning track

By Michael Bower
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor

The Cal State Long Beach women's cross country team captured its first title in over a decade at the UC Riverside Invitational Saturday as the team continues to make progress.Distance coach Matt Roe has only been working with the CSULB cross country team for a little over a month now, and he has already accomplished more than any other coach has in the last 10 years.

Sophomore Nicole Blalock led the women with a fifth place finish on the 5K course, where the Big West Conference Championships will be held Oct. 30.

Jimmy Grabow led the men's team finishing in second place with a time of 24 minutes, 23.40 seconds, which is a new personal best and the third fastest time in school history.

"I thought we ran really well, especially on the women's side," Roe said. "I think this was our first major victory on the women's side in over a decade and there have been only a few of them in school history. It's pretty exciting. To beat a team like Southern Utah, who I saw while I was coaching at Western Illinois, and who has won the last six Mid-Continent titles, it's a big deal."

Meredith Kramon and Crystal Roethlisberger both finished in the top 15 as all five of the 49er women finished in the top-35 of the 12-team race. The women scored 85 points for the win as Southern Utah took second place with 107 points.

Roethlisberger, a junior from Tulare, gave the women's team a big boost with a 14th place finish. She finished the race with a time of 18:24.90, while last season on the same course she finished with a time of 18:25.20. Last season Roethlisberger was the No. 3 runner for the 49ers, and finished in 33rd place at the Big West Conference Championship.

A new star could be in the making for the women's team as freshman Danielle Miller, from Palo Alto, took 32nd place to help put the 49ers over the top.

The men's team finished in seventh place as Roe decided to rest two of his top three runners. The Cal Coast Track Club took first place.

Grabow continued to run well as he finished just seven seconds behind first place finisher Daniel Rojas from Cal Poly Pomona. Grabow keeps climbing the charts as he moved from fifth to third on the all-time fastest times list at Long Beach State.

"On the men's side, Jimmy continues to improve and I thought the men ran a pretty solid race," Roe said.

The cross country team will take the weekend off before heading to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to participate in the Cal Poly Invite on Oct. 16 at 9 a.m.