RENO, Nev. - UC Riverside kicked off the 2022 cross country season on Thursday evening at the Nevada Twilight, taking a wire-to-wire team and individual win on the women's side while finishing second in the men's race at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno.
The Highlander women went 1-2-3 in the 5.4k for 25 points take their first win since the 2015 Highlander Invitational. UCR was already leading the four-team race after two laps with Collette Lowengrub, 2021 All-Big West selection Linda Perez and Buffalo transfer Riley Jones leading the field, respectively.
"Anytime you go 1-2-3 in a race and take home a team win, it's special," assistant coach Zach Newsom said. " We had very impressive efforts from Collette, Riley, and Linda today and they've laid a great foundation for a special season."
Lowengrub stayed ahead of the pack to grab the first win of her career with a time of 21:40, breaking the tape ahead of 33 runners behind her. The sophomore came in four seconds before Jones and 17 before Perez, who held a 28-second gap between her and fourth place in the final results. Carolinh Calvert finished eighth to round out four Highlanders in the top 10.
Joshua Mendoza led UC Riverside in the 7k men's race, finishing sixth in 24:11. Lance Denhalter scored in his first collegiate race, finishing 12th in 24:46 as the race's highest-finishing freshman. Owen Conner and Andrew Parkinson also made their UCR debuts on Thursday finishing 30th and 34th, respectively.
"The focus today was on effort and coming from a tough preseason camp," Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Nate Browne said. "You can sometimes have a mixed bag of results. However, the women opened quite well and brought home a meet title for the first time in a few years."
UC Riverside is back on the course on Saturday, September 17 for the annual UC Riverside Invitational at the Ag/Ops Course beginning with the women's 5000m Open at 8:25 a.m., followed by the men in the 8000m Open at 8:55 a.m. Fans can follow the action with live results on FinishedResults.com.
