Fresno State Athletics
Cross Country Opens at UC Irvine
9/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 4, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State men and women's cross country teams officially open the 2007 season at the UC Irvine Invitational on Sat., Sept. 8. The men will run an 8K race starting at 7:30 a.m. The women will follow with a 5K race beginning at 8:30 a.m. Neither the men nor the women's team competed at UC Irvine last season, while both teams opened at CS Stanislaus in 2006. At the season opening event last year, the women placed first out of two teams and the men were third out of three teams.
43rd Annual Watermelon Run in Review
Fresno State hosted the 43rd annual Watermelon Run on Aug. 25. On the women's side, junior Roxanne Sellick won the two-mile event, clocking in at 11:37. Amazingly enough, Sellick had her appendix removed just nine days before the race and yet still was able to capture the title. Sophomore Marissa McPhail took ninth overall with a time of 12:07 and senior Meredith Hawkins was 13th overall with a time of 12:21. On the men's side, freshman Erick Garcia placed second, finishing with a time of 20:09 in the four-mile event. Sophomore Frank Sanders came in fourth with a time of 20:49 and freshman David Vartanian placed eighth with a time of 21:16.
Women's Outlook
The women return seven of its top eight runners, led by McPhail and Sellick. Last year, the team won the San Francisco State Invitational, beating out nine other squads as five Bulldogs finished in the top-20. The team took fifth at the Western Athletic Conference Championships and 23rd at the Western Regionals. Along with Hawkins, sophomore Jennifer Hernandez, juniors Paloma Dominguez and Briana Cleary, and seniors Marina Santana and Patty Torres are expected to contribute. McPhail's outstanding freshman season included a second place finish at the San Francisco State Invitational where she posted a season-best 23:07. She was the first Bulldog to finish, helping the team capture the title while posting the 10th fastest 6K run in Fresno State history. McPhail again was the first to finish for Fresno State when she took 95th overall at the NCAA West Regional.
Men's Outlook
The men's team returns four of its six runners from last season. Sanders and fellow sophomores Brandon Geis, James McCurley and Tony Rojas Jr. will all be major contributors this season. Geis, McCurley and Sanders all were top finishers among Bulldog runners throughout last season's invitational meets. Garcia, a three-time cross country Valley Champion from Parlier, already has shown he will be a factor this season. Newcomers Vartanian, Max Hernandez, Elijah Carillo and Isaac Perry will also contribute. Sanders finished the 2006 season strongest, finishing 29th overall and first among Fresno State runners at the WAC Championships with a time of 26:58.
Head coach Joe Gonzales
Head coach Joe Gonzales is entering his eighth season with the Fresno State cross country programs. He coached the men's team from 2000-02 before the program went on a three-year hiatus and is now looking to build the team in their second year back. It is his third season as head coach of the women's team and he has been as an assistant coach in charge of distance runners for the track and field teams since his arrival in 2000. 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 Bachelor of Science degree in liberal studies.
