ARCATA — Only two weeks removed from a disappointing performance at the Stanford Invitational, Humboldt State's cross country teams provided a clear indication of their potential by finishing among the leaders at the San Francisco State Invitational on Friday.
Humboldt State's men finished a close second with 64 points to the 55 posted by the winning squad, NCAA Division I University of San Francisco. A total of 14 schools scored points in the event, with 146 runners competing.
In the women's competition, HSU placed fourth overall in the field of 17 schools. Ahead of the Jacks were Division I teams from Santa Clara, with 48 points and St. Mary's, with 86. California Collegiate Athletic Association rival Cal State Stanislaus edged HSU for third, 107-117.
Concentrating on going out hard and packing together as long as possible, the Jacks' top men were among the leaders throughout the 8K tour of Golden Gate Park. Eric Malain maintained through the end, placing fourth overall with a time of 25 minutes, 35 seconds.
Not far back were HSU's
Austin Huff, seventh in 25:46, and Nico Arguelles, 17th in 26:11. Rounding out the scoring pack were
Hunter Daniel, in 28th place (26:40), and
Joe Ostini, in 36th place (26:56).
"We talked about how we run together and train together, and it's time for us to race as a pack," HSU head coach
Scott Pesch said. "Every one of our guys did a great job of following those instructions today, and the result was only 1 minute and 21 seconds separating our top five."
HSU's women made a remarkable recovery from their performance of just two weeks ago, following the example of lead runner Irene Graham. The senior from Palo Alto blazed through the 6K course in a time of 22:57, placing sixth overall among 175 competing women.
Another senior, Tess Dahlgren, finished 15th in 23:26, and sophomore Amanda Camarillo was 18th in 23:31. Alizah Rotman, in 39th place (24:04), and Christina Perez, in 52nd (24:29) aided the Jacks' efforts.
"Every one of our women's runners was battling against other runners instead of being passive like the last race," Pesch said. "They'll gain a lot of confidence in themselves from this experience."
On Friday, Humboldt State's women defeated both San Francisco State and UC Santa Cruz, two of the teams that were well ahead of them at the Stanford event. In the men's race, the Lumberjacks closed the team gap of 6 minutes, 23 seconds behind University of San Francisco two weeks ago to a mere three seconds Friday.
Next up for Humboldt State is the Western Classic Invitational on Oct. 26 in Bellingham, Wash. That race will serve as a preview of the course that will serve as venue for the NCAA Division II West Region Championships.
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