UC Riverside Makes History at Big West Championships
10/29/2022 10:30:00 AM | Cross Country
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside put in historical performances on both the men's and women's sides on Saturday morning at the Big West Championships at the Ag/Ops Course.Â
Collette Lowengrub grabbed the Highlander women's sixth top-10 individual finish at the Big West Championship in the past eight years and the program's best Big West time on the women's side since 2014, while the men tied their best team finish since 2014 and recorded their lowest point total since 2010.Â
"I'm really proud of Collette for taking a risk and racing to win, and she still finished with an All-Big West performance," assistant coach Zach Newsom said. "I'm incredibly proud of our men's team today. This is a group that was seventh at last year's Big West Championship and moved all the way up to third in a year. It speaks to the character and work ethic of this team to put in the training all year and fight hard for every spot on the course today."
UC Riverside had four runners in the top 50 on the women's side after the 2k split with Lowengrub leading the way in sixth, followed by Riley Jones in 32nd. Carolinh Calvert (42nd) and Norma Alvarez (48th) rounded out the top 50 in the early juncture. Lowengrub broke the tape in 20:18.0, followed by Calvert in 30th, and has now recorded back-to-back top-25 finishes at the Big West Championship.Â
The men had three runners in the top 25 after the 2k split, led by freshmen Tyler Kaan (16th) and Lance Denhalter (19th). Kaan jumped five spots into 11th at the 4k while Ashraf Abdelmagid made a massive 18-spot leap into the top 20, vaulting the Highlanders as a team into third at the halfway point, where they held steady through to the finish.Â
Aiden Davis sat in 28th at the midway point, but turned on the jets late to grab UC Riverside's third top-10 individual finish on the men's side in the last three years, finishing eighth in 24:02.6.Â
UC Riverside will now await its entry into the NCAA West Regionals to be run on Friday, November 11 at the Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Washington. Â
