RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Riverside (UCR) Highlanders Cross Country team hosted their second meet of the season this Saturday, October 16 at the Agg Ops course on campus. Linda Perez led the way for the women, finishing fifth overall and fourth collegiately with a time of 20:45.6. This time also advances Linda in the UCR Top 25 All-Time Record Books from 17th to tenth. Joshua Mendoza led the men's team, finishing 49th overall and 45th collegiately with a time of 25:00.9.

Head Coach Nate Browne said, "With the women placing fourth, we are building some momentum heading into conference. On the men's side, we paid a bit for some fast early miles. What we have to remember is that this is a very young team and we are still in that learning curve when it comes to collegiate racing. We have two weeks until Big West Conference Championships. Coach Newsom and I are confident this group will be ready at UC Davis."  

The UCR women finished fourth overall with 137 points (4-18-22-26-67) behind the top three teams of the morning, Cal State Fullerton (35), UC Irvine (88) and New Mexico State (112). 
 
Highlander men finished 13th overall with a score of 327 (43-47-64-85-88), bested out of finishing top ten by San Diego (324), CSUN (322) and Dixie State (316). 
 
Joshua Mendoza finished 49th in the 8k, crossing the tape at 25:00.9. Shortly behind him was Ashraf Abdelmagid, who finished 53rd with a time of 25:04.2. The third Highlander across the finish line was Aiden Davis, who finished 74th with a time of 25:23.9. 
 
For the women, Linda Perez finished fifth with her UCR Top 10 All Time speed of 20:45.6. Collette Lowengrub finished next behind her, crossing the line at 22^nd overall with a time of 21.29.8. Carolinh Calvert rounded out the top three finishers for the UCR women's cross country team, finishing right behind Lowengrub at 26^th with a time of 21:38.5.
 
Distance Coach Zach Newsom was ultimately encouraged with the day's performance, saying "We had a bit of a mixed bag in the results today. We some big PRs in both the men's and women's races, but also some things to learn from." He continued, "I think we were a bit too aggressive early in the men's race and paid for it later on. I was proud of how our guys battled to the finish. I thought our women competed well and I was pleased with our fourth place finish as a team led by Linda Perez's fifth place finish individually. We're looking forward to getting back out there for conference in a couple weeks!" 
 
The Highlanders have one more meet before Big West Conference Championships, racing next Friday, October 22 at 5 PM at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton, Calif.