Sept. 24, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Cross Country Weekly Release in PDF Format
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Aztec Cross Country to Race in Stanford and UC Riverside Invitationals This Weekend
Coming off a runner-up finish at the Big Wave Invitational, San Diego State will look to ride that momentum into the Stanford and UC Riverside Invitationals on Saturday, Sept. 29. The Aztec `A' squad will race at Stanford beginning at 4:48 p.m. PT, while the `B' team will compete at UCR at 7:30 a.m. PT.
SDSU, looking to rebound from its 11th-place showing at the Aztec Invitational, went across the Pacific Ocean to take part in the 4K Big Wave Invitational in Hawaii and emerged with a positive result. The Aztecs finished in second place with 60 points and placed six of their eight athletes in the top 20 with Lisa Naucler coming in eighth.
Following this week's two-meet slate, the `A' team will get Oct. 6 off with the `B' group scheduled to run in the Triton Classic at nearby UC San Diego. The 5K race is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. PT.
Naucler Setting the Standard
For the third straight week, Lisa Naucler has set the standard for the Aztecs. The Mountain West Conference athlete of the week has logged San Diego State's fastest time in each of the team's three meets to open the 2007 season. Two weeks ago at the Aztec Invitational, Naucler finished first among all SDSU runners and walked away with the MWC's weekly honor three days later. The trend continued this past weekend in Oahu as Naucler finished in eighth place with a time of 15 minutes, 13 seconds. Her eighth-place performance was the best of any Aztec this year and was Naucler's best since finishing seventh at the 2005 Santa Clara Invitational. The last time SDSU placed an athlete in the top 10 was in 2006 when Celeste Tyson came in eighth at Santa Clara.
Silver Effort
San Diego State's runner-up performance was its best of the season and its top effort since the 2005 campaign. Last season, the Aztecs' best result came at the Fullerton Season Opener when they finished in fourth place and had just two top-five performances all year long. One has to go back to the 2005 season when SDSU found themselves the top-five six times and finished in the top 10 in all seven of its scored meets. That year, the Scarlet and Black won the Santa Clara Invitational, came in second at the Fullerton Season Opener, took third at the Aztec Invite, fourth at Stanford and fifth at the Willamette Invitational and the MWC Championships. The season came to a close with a seventh-place showing at the NCAA Regional meet.
Looking Stronger
Stephanie Armstrong is making her mark as the season goes along finishing second on the team for a second consecutive week. Coming off a season-best effort at the Aztec Invitational, the sophomore found herself in familiar territory once again finishing behind Lisa Naucler at the Big Wave Invite with a 4K time of 15:43.00. Her 12th-place performance was the best finish of her Aztec career.
Darien Buc, another sophomore, is also showing great improvement from her first to her third race. In the opener at Fullerton, Buc finished with the team's seventh-best mark and then logged personal record in logging SDSU's fifth-fastest time at the Aztec Invitational. Then this past weekend in Hawaii, she crossed the finish line in 13th place, matching Armstrong's time of 15:43.00. Like Armstrong, Buc's 13th-place effort marked her top finish while at San Diego State.
Six in the Top 20
As mentioned earlier, San Diego State placed six runners (Lisa Naucler - 8th, Stephanie Armstrong - 12th, Darien Buc - 13th, Kristin Glen - 15th, Alyssa Robinson - 16th, Anne Vieira - 19th) inside the top 20 at the Big Wave Invitational for the first time since 2005 when it placed six at the Santa Clara Invite. By accomplishing the feat, SDSU snapped a 15-meet streak, spanning three seasons, in which it did not have at least six Aztecs finish among the top 20 in a race.
Paradise Good for Aztecs
The return to the Big Wave Invitational produced quality results for San Diego State for a second consecutive time this past weekend. The last time SDSU visited Hawaii was in 2003 when the Aztecs finished in third place, highlighted by Marie Nilsson's seventh-place time of 14:08.00. Obviously, this year the Scarlet and Black finished better as a team coming in second place. Individually, Lisa Naucler completed the course with the eighth-fastest time among all competitors with a mark of 15:13.00. Even though Nilsson's time was 1:05.00 faster than Naucler's, Nilsson would have blown away this year's champion, Hawai'i's Chatelle Wilder (14:34.00) by 26 seconds.
