Lee and Irani Pave Way for Best Men’s Cross Country Finish in Five Years

Friday, November 15

Colfax, Wash.

11:30 P.M.

UC Riverside

NCAA West Regionals Championship

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Lee and Irani Pave Way for Best Men’s Cross Country Finish in Five Years

11/15/2019 4:38:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

COLFAX, Wash. – The UC Riverside cross country teams competed in the NCAA Regionals in Colfax, Washington on Friday morning. The men had their best finish in five years as they placed in 16^th place in the 10k. The women's squad finished in 29^th in the 6k.

It was another stellar performance from the duo of junior Jon Lee and senior Arman Irani as the combo finished 50^th and 51^st, respectively. Lee came out in the 50^th as he ran for a time of 30:55.9 with his teammate, Irani, finishing right behind him at 30:58.3.

Senior James Sever also placed in the top-100 as he landed right at 100 with a race time of 31:45.3. Sophomores Antonio Carbajal and Isaac Acosta rounded out the five runners for UCR as they finished 127^th and 134^th, respectively.

Finishing in 16^th place with 460 points, the men were only two points away from being as high as 14^th in the regional. All seven athletes that competed for the men all had lifetime bests in a 10k race.

Assistant coach Rob Hansen spoke about how proud he was of the group.

"We're so proud of how tough each of our top five guys competed," Hansen said. "Finishing 50 and 51 for those two guys were great finishes. James was extremely competitive and ran with a fire in his belly. Isaac and Toni jockeyed positions and battled together as brothers. Watching those guys run together was so exciting for us."

The women were led by senior Emily Sanchez who finished 122^nd with a time of 21:50.7. Sanchez had the fastest regional time in her UCR career with that run.

Sophomore Suset Maldonado had a lifetime best run as she ran for a time of 22:17.5 which was good for 150^th. It was her highest team finish as a Highlander as she was the second runner on the team to finish the race.

Director of Cross Country/Track and Field Nate Browne expressed his excitement about how the team ran.

"I felt like this year when coach Hansen laid out the training plan it covered the major components well for 10k improvement. The guys bought in and executed in the moment. They ran determined, they ran together, and they ran through, "Browne said. "We talked about re-establishing a 'regional identity' and our guys did just that today."