Monterey Times

Junior Lisa Irvine earns her first collegiate race win at The Waves Invitational

Junior Lisa Irvine (Roseville/Woodcreek HS) caught a wave — all of them, actually — to earn her first collegiate victory at the Waves Invitational Saturday on Pepperdine University's Alumni Park Course.

Irvine was the only one of the 58 mostly NCAA Division I participants to navigate the challenging 6K course in under 23 minutes, finishing in 22:58.0 to win by a full 19 seconds. She becomes the first Otter race winner since Hannah Bell took top honors at the Sonoma State Invitational in 2015.

Joining Irvine amongst the race leaders was freshman Kseniya Nikanorov (Castle Rock/Castle View HS), who placed fifth overall in 23:35.6. Freshman Ali Keith (Billings, Mont./Billings West HS) and junior Mackenzie Caprino (Salem, Ore./South Salem HS) also finished in the Top 20, placing 12th and 17th respectively.

Led by that quartet, CSUMB finished second in the team standings behind host Pepperdine, 47–56. Cal State Northridge and the University of Redlands tied for third with 74 points. Cal Poly SLO and Cal State Bakersfield rounded out the team standings with 142 points apiece.

"Let's start by saying that this course made the top three in difficulty on which Otter cross country ever has competed. It had mushy grass and there was a kicker hill in it," says CSUMB Head Coach Greg Rhines. "That being said, the Otters showed up and did so well. Lisa's victory was a wonderful bonus to strong performances from both teams. The women threw down tremendous team and individual results. One thing that I always see in these two teams is that the best of each of them is left out there, every time. That's all a coach can ask for."

Sophomore Jaime Gonzalez (Camarillo HS) led CSUMB in the men's race with a ninth place finish. His 27:30.7 was 37 seconds off the pace set by winner Solomon Costa (unattached). Senior Nathan Garcia (El Centro/Southwest HS) also earned a spot in the Top 20, placing 15th in 27:43.0. Alexis Lorenzana (31st), Luis Contreras (32nd) and Alex Fernandes (38th) also placed in the top half of the 91–runner field.

CSUMB will take next weekend off before returning to action with its annual trip to the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational Oct. 15 at Baylands Park. The Otters return home to the Palo Corona Cross Country Trail to host the CCAA Championship Meet Nov. 5

Original source can be found here.