The UC Riverside women’s cross country team returned to action on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon at Springfield Country Club. The women’s 5,000m race was scheduled at 10:30 a.m. The Highlanders, Seattle, Idaho, Sacramento State, Washington, Southern Utah, Gonzaga, Nevada, BYU and Massachusetts participated in the event. Last year the UC Riverside women’s team finished eighth.
The UC Riverside women’s cross country team finished fourth overall out of seven teams at the at this year’s Dellinger Invitational in Oregon. The 5k course at Springfield Country Club was good to Highlander Damajeria DuBose, who finished ninth overall with a lifetime best time of 17:08. Dubose improved almost by a minute from last year’s time at the Dellinger Invitational. Oregon, the host team, won the invitational, totaling 18 points and having seven runners finish in the top 10. Southern Utah finished in second with 73, Gonzaga in third with 87 and the Highlanders placed in fourth with 98 points. Alexi Pappas of Oregon took home the individual title winning the race with a extremely quick time of 16:23.
The Highlanders had five runners who finished within seconds of each other to place from the 25th to 33rd places. Raquel Heflin finished in 25th place with a time of 17:40. Three seconds later Alisha Brown finished in 27th place with a time of 17:43. Katy Daly finished in 30th place with a time of 17:47, Brianna Simmons placed in 32nd place with a time of 17:53, with Jzsanette Lindstrom pacing right behind Simmons with a time of 17:55. The seventh and last Highlander to score was Jaasmin Pina, who placed in 52nd place with a time of 18:38. Rounding out the team was Maryann Holliday, who came in 65th place with a time of 19:43.
The Highlanders will host the 14th annual Highlander Invitational on Saturday, Oct.13 at 8:00 a.m. at the UCR Ag/Ops Course. At last year’s Highlander Invitational, Katy Daly finished in seventh place with a time of 20:56.5 and Jaasmin Pina finished in 11th place with a time of 21:04.8. Daly and Pina’s position helped the lady Highlanders secure the fourth place overall out of 20 teams. The Highlanders will look for familiar performances from the team to better or match last year’s results.
