Cross country can't catch UCLA

Both Cal State Long Beach cross country teams drew respectable results Saturday at the Aztec Invitational of Balboa Park in San Diego, although UCLA came out ahead of the pack.

The Bruins' 24 was good enough to take the men's event; Cal State Northridge was second, with a score of 44. The UCLA women were also successful, tying Florida for first with a 38.

Pat Bendzick, Dennis Sweningson, and Dan Santos led the 49er men to a third-place finish at 83; while Bendzick's time of 26 minutes, 45 seconds was the best time for an individual, 5 miles at 26:45, Sweningson and Santos each bettered personal records over the five-mile course.

The women's team's fifth-place performance was paced by Kim Foster, Monica MacManus and Tanya Futami. The best time for the 5K run went to Foster, who finished in 18:52, contributing to her team's score of 126.

MacManus and Futami ran strong with times of 20:01 and 19:51, respectively.

Even though it is early in the year, a good performance at this week's Big West Challenge Cup is vital to the 49ers' championship hopes, according to CSULB coach Andy Sythe.

Sythe calls the cup, which will take place Saturday at the Campus Lagoon in Santa Barbara, "the most pivotal match of the year."