TRINIDAD — (Sept. 2) Strong individual performances from Jimmy Elam in the men's race and Sylvia Manzo on the women's side paced the Humboldt State cross country teams to a strong season debut at their own Humboldt Invitational raced at Patrick's Point State Park on Saturday.
Manzo, junior transfer from Long Beach City College, placed fourth overall in a time of 20 minutes, 14 seconds on the 5K course to help the Jacks claim a slim 27-28 team victory over Fresno Pacific. Also competing were schools from Notre Dame de Namur and Oregon Tech, neither of which finished enough athletes to post a team score.
Elam, a sophomore, covered the men's 8K distance in 26:33 to place second behind Fresno Pacific's Benny Madrigal, who won the 8K race in 26:25. HSU teammate Omar Limon was a strong fourth in 27:06 and newcomer Jason Lewis finished fifth in 27:13, but a lack of depth hurt the Jacks in a tight 35-36 loss to Notre Dame de Namur.
"That's my first team cross country victory, so I'm really excited about it," third-year HSU head coach Sandy Moran said. "To have the performances we did in our first meet of the season made this a great day."
The morning started with the women's event, won by former HSU runner Nicole Campbell in 19:52. Fresno Pacific's Ashley Nelson and Kaili Zink claimed the next two spots, just ahead of Manzo, but Humboldt used new-found pack depth to place four women among the next seven finishers and edge ahead for the team title.
Included in the Jacks' pack were Jenna Lee in fifth, Megan Rolland in seventh, Kim Crouch in 10th and Jessica Rendon, 11th. Along with Manzo, the first three women, including true freshman Rolland and redshirt freshman Crouch, were running their first race for the Jacks. The lone senior, Rendon, was the Jacks No. 1 runner a year ago.
"We have progress yet to make, but we're definitely a lot stronger than we were last year," Moran said. "They followed the plan and didn't go out hard the first mile, which is a good strategy on a tough but fair course like this one."
In the men's event, Elam was well-supported by teammates Omar Limon, in fourth place, and Jason Lewis, in fifth. But the Jacks next two scoring positions finished behind all five of the Argonauts' scoring runners, leaving HSU just short in the team race.
Filling in the Lumberjacks' pack were Andrew Wright, in 16th place, and Steve Kilroy, 17th overall.
"Jimmy, Omar and Jason gave us a strong top three, and Andrew Wright really had a great race," Moran said. "We're much further along in the Nos. 4 and 5 positions than we were last year, and I expect them to move up even further."
Next week, Humboldt State takes an early look at the course that will serve as the venue for this year's NCAA Division II West Region Championships when the Jacks travel to Oroville for the Chico Invitational on Saturday.
