Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Fresno State Invitational
Bulldog Women Win Season Opener, Men Place Second
9/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Fresno State Invitational Results (PDF)
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By: Dayna Hill
daynah@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State cross country teams opened their season Friday with a win for the women's team and a second-place finish for the men's team in the Fresno State Invitational at Woodward Park.
The Fresno State women scored a total of 33 points after finishing first, second, fourth, fifth and 21st. Air Force finished second with 39 points, followed by UNLV (third 66 points), San Jose State (fourth, 93) and Cal State Bakersfield (fifth, 146) to round out the Division 1 schools competing.
The Bulldog men's team placed second overall, losing to Air Force by 14 points. The `Dogs finished the meet with a team total of 44 points, despite finishing individually in second and third place.
On the women's side, Fresno State junior standout Annemarie Schwanz won the 4,200-meter race by eight seconds (14:37.2) over redshirt senior teammate Carina Mendoza (second, 14:45.4) and Air Force's Hannah Everson (third, 14:53.2).
"I was looking forward to finally racing again, cross country is always fun," Schwanz said. "We practice at Woodward Park often, so it was nice to be out here competing and running with my team."
Junior Julianne Jacques followed in fourth place overall (14:58.1), and other Bulldog scorers included freshman Mackenzie Landa (fifth, 14:59.2) and senior Meagan Paracholski (21st, 15:55.8). Other Fresno State finishers included sophomores Taylor Samson (25th, 16:07.9) and Brittany Laygo (26th, 16:12.6) and seniors Lyndsie Etherton (33rd, 16:50.4) and Kelly Duffy (37th, 17:18.9).
"It's always great to see them in action and performing on race day," said coach Sean McManus. "It gives me a better gauge on where we are at as a team. The women came out with a victory today over Air Force, which is a team that was ranked a couple spots ahead of us in the preseason poll. It's always good to see teams from conference early on in the season, and to get a victory over them is great."
For the men, sophomore Matt Kwiatkowski was the top finisher for the `Dogs, placing second overall in the 6,000m men's Division 1 race with a time of 18:38.9. Just two seconds behind him was senior Chriss Grimble bringing in three points for the Bulldogs with a time of 18:40.40
"It was pretty refreshing be back here on the home course," said Kwiatkowski. "We all had pretty solid performances, and we knew pretty much how the race was going to go. We had a strong pack for most of the race which is a good start. In all, I felt like we all ran a solid race."
Junior Nathan Esparza was the next person to score for the `Dogs finishing 10th with a time of 18:54.2. He was followed by freshman Efren Reyes (14th, 19:12.4), sophomore Uriel Cabanas (15th, 19:15.6), freshmen Michael Marquez (17th, 19:30.7) and Joel Gonzalez (19th, 19:39.8). Other `Dog finishers included sophomores Esteban Vega (20th, 19:49.2), and Cooper Gill (21st, 20:11).
Looking ahead, the Bulldog cross country teams' next competition will be the UW Sundodger Invitational, scheduled for the late morning of Saturday, Sept. 20 at Alton Lincoln Park in Seattle, Wash.
"Be Bold!" - The 'Dogs host the Mountain West Cross Country Championships on Friday, October 31st at Woodward Park.
Players Mentioned
