Fresno State Athletics
Cross Country on the Road at UC Riverside Invitational
9/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 26, 2005
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FRESNO, Calif. -
UC Riverside Invitational Up Next
The Fresno State cross country team is on the road again when the Bulldogs compete at the UC Riverside Invitational on Sat., Oct. 1, 8:15 a.m., at the UCR Agricultural Operations Course. There will be a women's 5K invitational as well as a women's 5K collegiate/open invitational. The Ag/Ops cross country course will showcase 100-year old orange groves and eucalyptus trees. Last year at the UCR Invitational, Fresno State finished 10th out of 31 teams. The Bulldogs are making their second straight appearance.
Familiar Ground
The Ag/Ops cross country course will be a welcomed venue for junior Andrea Buckner (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Last year at the UC Riverside Invitational, Buckner set a personal-best 5K mark of 18:18, which ranks 21st all-time at Fresno State. While the Ags/Ops course is 85% flat with a few rolling hills, junior Zinzi Evans (Oakland, Calif.) also set a personal-best 5K mark (18:59) at the 2004 UC Riverside Invitational. Both will look to set new career-best marks this weekend.
Bulldogs Idle Next Week
After competing at the UC Riverside Invitational the Fresno State cross country team will be idle next weekend for the second time this year. The Bulldogs opened the season with back-to-back meets, Sept. 3 and 10, before taking a week off to prepare for the 32nd Annual Stanford Invitational. After competing this Saturday, the 'Dogs will not be back in action until Oct. 15 when they participate at the Cal Poly Invitational. After that meet, Fresno State will then have two weeks off in preparation for the 2005 Western Athletic Conference Championship, which will be hosted by Boise State on Oct. 29 at Eagle Island State Park in Boise, Idaho.
Buckner Takes Lead
After finishing as the Bulldogs top runner in all seven races a year ago, Buckner continues her leadership form by finishing first for Fresno State in its first three invitations of the season. At the 32nd Annual Stanford Invitational, she finished 46th out of 227 runners in the 6K meet after clocking 23:01. At the CS Stanislaus Invitational Buckner captured her first career invitational win when she ran a 6K time of 22:30, just seven seconds off her career-best mark set at the 2004 NCAA Regional. She became the first Bulldog to win an invitational since Kara June captured a pair of titles in 2003. At the CS Fullerton Invitational, Buckner finished 19th (19:36.7) overall in a field of 253 runners in the 5K race. The two-time NCAA Regional qualifier owns career-best times of 18:18 (5K) and 22:03 (6K) with one blue ribbon and one second-pace finish.
Rookie Sellick and Veteran Evans Form Top Trio
In addition to Buckner, freshman Roxanne Sellick (Fresno, Calif.) and Evans continue to give Fresno State a formidable scoring trio. Sellick has finished second to Buckner in two races this fall while Evans has been second, once. Each have finished as one of the 'Dogs top three runners in all three meets. In the 2-mile Watermelon Run to open the season, Sellick captured the meet crown with a time of 11:25 - five seconds off the school's freshman record set by Mary Kuphaldt in 1986. Sellick's time currently ranks 15th best all-time on the Bulldogs' 2-mile list. At the CS Stanislaus Invitational she set the school's 11th-best all-time 6K mark (23:31). Also at the CS Stanislaus invite, Evans, who did not run cross country in high school, set a career-best 6K time of 23:30 - a mark that ranks No. 10 all-time at Fresno State.
Head Coach Joe Gonzales
In his first season as the head coach of the Fresno State women's cross country program, Joe Gonzales has been a longtime assistant with the Fresno State track program. Entering his sixth year as an assistant coach in charge of the distance runners, he also previously coached the Fresno State men's cross country program (2000-02). During his tenure as the men's cross country coach, Gonzales led the team to three top five finishes in the WAC, finishing fifth in 2001 and '02 along with a third place finish in 2000. Four runners also received All-WAC honors during that time. Prior to entering his coaching career at Fresno State, Gonzales served as a coach at Exeter Union High School. He began his coaching career at Exeter, where he started as a volunteer assistant for the cross country team in 1990. In 1995, he became the head cross country coach for both the boys and girls programs. Gonzales then served as the head track & field coach at Exeter from 1998-2000. In his 10 years at Exeter, he led the girls' cross country team to five league championships and a section title and the girls' track and field team to two league crowns. He guided the boys' cross country team to a pair of league titles. Gonzales graduated from Fresno State with a degree in liberal studies (2001).
32nd Annual Stanford Invitational in Review
At the 32nd Annual Stanford Invitational that featured more than 3,000 runners, Fresno State ran in all three of the women's races: 5K non-scored, 4K scored and 6K scored ... In the 5K, Fresno State had seven runners compete ... Junior Dina McPhail finished first for the Bulldogs with a time of 23:14 to place 61st overall out of 92 runners ... Sophomore Diana Fatyga was next to cross the finish line as she ran 23:24 to place 65th overall ... Other Bulldogs that ran were senior Alia Qali (83rd, 25:29), junior Elizabeth Evans (86th, 26:27), freshman Kim Hendricks (87th, 26:39), freshman Ashley Marcinkowski (91st, 27:19) and sophomore Tiffany Hooks (92nd, 27:36) ... In the 4K race, the Bulldogs finished 17th out of 17 schools with 481 points ... For Fresno State, senior Sunny Arada was the top Bulldog finisher as she clocked 16:52 to place 78th overall out of a 128-runner field ... Sophomore Nancy Rodriguez followed and posted a time of 18:28 to finish 98th ... Other Bulldogs that ran were freshman Cheri Ramirez (100th, 19:26), sophomore Jordan Anderson (102nd, 20:29), junior Cherella Nicholson (103rd, 20:38), junior Emily Pegan (104th, 20:53), sophomore Jessica Law (105th, 22:21) and junior Brittney Gilbert (106th, 22:24) ... In the 6K race, Fresno State had six runners compete as Buckner was the top `Dog by running 23:01 to finish 46th out of a 227-runner field ... Sellick clocked 24:09 and placed 107th overall while Evans ran 24:28 to finish 124th ... Junior Valeria Delgado (171st, 25:25), sophomore Patty Torres (173rd, 25:37) and freshman Paloma Dominguez (182nd, 25:57) rounded out the field ... As a team, Fresno State finished 22nd out of the 32-team 6K field.
