SACRAMENTO, Calif. - UC Riverside competed at the NCAA West Regional on Friday, November 10 with impressive team results and individual finishes at Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

    •    Linda Perez was the Highlanders' lead runner for the women's 6k at the one mile marker in 46th, followed by Dariana Miramontes and Collette Lowengrub together at 83rd and 84th. 

    •    Perez continued to surge ahead through the 1.5 mile split, coming up to 31st and holding that place or better for the rest of the race. Miramontes and Lowengrub moved up to 78th and 80th respectively as Perez advanced.

    •    Lowengrub and Miramontes continued to advance on their competitors and stick together across the next mile, climbing up to 48th and 49th places. Perez advanced as high as 27th.

    •    Perez held her ground to finish first for UCR at 31st with a time of 20:21.7 as Lowengrub and Miramontes continued to climb, steadily moving up to finish at 37th and 43rd out of 253 runners.

    •    Ashraf Abdelmagid finished first for the Highlanders in the men's 10k, climbing from 77th at the one mile junction to 22nd place out of 201 runners by the 5.7 mile split. Abdelmagid was able to hold on to 22nd until crossing the tape with a final time of 29:43.8.

    •    Joshua Mendoza finished next for the Highlanders at 65th with a final time of 30:37.9, steadily climbing from 99th place throughout the duration of the 10k.

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

    •    Perez's ability to hold her ground at 31st and Miramontes and Lowengrub's late race heroics catapulted the Highlanders above UCLA for a team finish of 11th place - their highest since placing eighth in 2007 and matching their second highest finish ever, when the Highlanders came in 11th place in 2006.

    •    Abdelmagid's 22nd place finish earned him All-Region honors. It was the fourth highest individual finish in UC Riverside history and the first All-Region finish on the men's side since 2011.

COACHES CORNER

    •    "Our women ran their best team race since I've been at UCR. We came in ranked 14th and consistently moved up throughout the race and finished 11th. I'm so proud of how they ran together and for each other today. It was great team performance!"

    •    "We had an absolutely outstanding performance by Ashraf up front for us earning all-region honors. I thought the guys for the most part battled and we were in the hunt for 10th place with under a kilometer to go but we had a tough DNF that cost us a lot of points. Proud of the way they battled to the end."

UP NEXT

    •    UCR has closed out its 2023 season.