2010 University of San Francisco Cross Country Invitational
Men's Individual & Team Results
2010 University of San Francisco Cross Country Invitational
Women's Individual & Team Results
San Francisco, CA – The Academy of Art University men's and women's cross country teams started their 2010 season with a strong performance against Division I competition at the 18th annual USF Invitational. Held at Golden Gate Park, the meet saw junior
Amos Maru lead the way with a 4th place individual finish (25:04) for the men's squad who took 5th overall. The women's team earned 9th place collectively paced by junior
Cassandra Schumacher who captured 45th (20:17) among four-year contestants.
The Urban Knight men's team may have been led by the 2009 Pacific West Conference Runner of the Year in Maru, but junior Daveson Marindich finished not far behind him. Marindich took 10th place (25:14) and improved on last year's result by nearly 20 seconds.
“[Amos] is looking strong. He had a fabulous 2009 season so it's nice to see him start faster than the previous year,” Assistant Coach Anne Ricketts said. “Daveson also ran strong. His goal next race is to stay right on Amos and go with Amos if he takes the lead.”
A particularly significant race was run by junior Mark Bretan who crossed the line in 42nd among four-year contestants with a new personal record of 27:24. His performance exhibited tremendous dedication and came at a crucial time according to Coach Ricketts.
“Overall, this was a strong race for the men,” Coach Ricketts said. “The team had two of their strongest out with back injuries, but Mark helped the team in a huge way. This is a 44-second personal record for him on this course. Mark has improved by leaps and bounds from last year so that's very exciting to see. I was so happy to see three personal records from our top five men.”
The fourth qualifier for ART U was junior Shawn Daut who battled through a hamstring injury to finish 47th among four-year contestants with a time of 28:00. In the fifth and final position for Academy of Art University, senior Geoffrey Cheruiyot took home 50th place (29:35).
Taking the individual title for the men's race was Luis Orta of the University of Kentucky, however, it was USF who captured the top team honor. The 5th place Urban Knight squad finished in front of Division I St. Mary's College.
On the women's side, Schumacher turned in an impressive race to lead the Knights to 9th overall of the four-year collegiate teams finishing the race.
“This is [Cassandra's] first race back in a year and she looked strong,” Coach Ricketts said. “She will be instrumental to our team's success.”
Following behind Schumacher was senior Irinel Zamfir who crossed the line in 58th place among four-year contestants with a time of 20:56. Zamfir wrapped up a 2009 campaign where she captured PacWest Newcomer of the Year honors and powered ART U through the late stages of the season.
“Irinel is coming off an injury so today was a decent return for her,” Coach Ricketts said. “She was calm and collected throughout the race which was her goal.”
Freshman Kylie Long came next after Zamfir with a 60th place performance (21:04) among four-year contestants and junior Leticia Saldaña, the fourth qualifier for Academy of Art University, finished in 73rd with a time of 22:01. The top five was rounded out by senior Monica Anguiano who improved on her run at the USF Invitational from last year to take 85th (25:03).
“This was some serious competition for the ladies running against some big Division I schools like Cal, USF, University of Kentucky, and Santa Clara, but they stayed composed and looked like a legit team,” Coach Ricketts said. “This was the best start to the ladies' season I have seen in three years.”
The women's race was won by Chelsea Reilly from UC Berkeley and it was the Bears to walked away with the team title.
Next Saturday, Sept. 11, the Urban Knights will take part in the Hornet Invitational at Granite Regional Park hosted by Sacramento State. The women begin their meet at 9:15 AM and the men's race will follow at 9:45 AM.
