Women's Cross Country Takes 4th, Pearce Finishes 7th At Big West Championships

Saturday, October 28

Riverside, CA

8:30 AM

UC Riverside

Big West Conference Championship

Women's Cross Country Takes 4th, Pearce Finishes 7th At Big West Championships

10/28/2017 10:55:00 AM | Women's Cross Country

Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Women's Cross Country Team finished in 4th-place as the host of the 2017 Big West Championships on Saturday morning with a team score of 89. Redshirt seniors Weslie Pearce (20:51.3) and Faith Makau (21:03.4) finished seventh and ninth overall to lead the Highlanders in the Women's 6k.

Full results for the meet can be found here.

View photo gallery on Facebook.

2017 Big West Championships
Place (Score)	Student-Athlete	Time
7 (7)	Weslie Pearce	20:51.3
9 (9)	Faith Makau	21:03.4
19 (19)	Emily Sanchez	21:37.3
27 (26)	Leslie Rivera	21:55.3
29 (28)	Alyssa Tran	21:59.3
30 (29)	Samantha Poliakon	22:01.0
31 (30)	Kiley Atwood	22:03.3
49	Haley Cabrera	22:48.5

MEET NOTES
This is the third consecutive year that Weslie Pearce has finished in the top-seven at the Big West Championships. Her time of 20:51.3 is just eight seconds behind her career-best mark at this event, set in 2015 (story). This also marks the first time in her last seven events that she was the first Highlander to cross the finish line.

Finishing in ninth overall, Faith Makau earned a top-10 finish at the Big West Championships for the fourth consecutive time. Her time of 21:03.4 was 26 seconds faster than her 6k time at the 2016 Big West Championships, when she finished in third overall. Through five meets this season, she has yet to finish outside of the top-11.

Junior Emily Sanchez had her highest finish ever at the Big West Championships, beating her career-best 2015 mark by 32 seconds to take 19th overall. She maintained her perfect mark of top-20 finishes this year, making it 5-for-5 in 2017. Coming into this season, she had just one career top-20 finish.

Sophomore Leslie Rivera finished in 27th overall, moving up 34 spots from her 61st-place finish in 2016. It was the second-highest finish of her career, only behind this year's Nevada Twilight Classic in which she finished 21st overall (story).

Sophomore Samantha Poliakon earned a 30th-place finish, improving 23 spots from last year's Big West Championships.

The Highlanders had a season-high six runners finish in the top-30.

This was the last of three home meets for UC Riverside this season. On Friday, November 10, the Highlanders will compete in the NCAA West Regionals in Seattle, Washington.

Read the UCR Men's 8k Recap