UCI women claim crown

uci cross country standaloneSteen paces Anteaters to first at Big West Championships, while men finish fifth Saturday at Riverside.RIVERSIDE -- The UC Irvine women’s cross country team won its first Big West Conference championship since 1999 with a first-place showing at the conference championships Saturday at UC Riverside.

Placing five runners in the top 11, the Anteaters won their 12th championship in the history of the program. UCI edged two-time defending champion UC Santa Barbara, which finished second, followed by Long Beach State in third.

Anteater senior Amber Steen finished first in 20 minutes, 55.5 seconds over the 6,000-meter course, while redshirt freshman Laura Olvera placed second in 21:00.3 for UCI.

Sophomore Marie Nguyen was sixth in 21:26.1 for the Anteaters, followed by senior Kelli Vanderburg (ninth, 21:34.2), sophomore Candice Proctor (11th, 21:47.5), sophomore Erinn Kim (17th, 22:01.9) and freshman Samantha Costantini (30th, 22:42.6).

“We had a race plan that was set and the women followed it perfectly,” UCI Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “I wanted them to be patient and that’s exactly what they did. When Amber and Laura moved in on the leaders about 2,000 meters out, the others knew it was time to go as well.

“This is a relatively young team that has been very easy to work with all year. It is nice to see Amber Steen getting back in the fold and a year ago who could have predicted Laura Olvera would run this well all year.”

The UC Irvine men finished fifth, while Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won its third consecutive title. UC Santa Barbara was second and Long Beach State placed third.

UCI’s top runner -- freshman Nick Mosey -- finished 23rd in 24:52.2 over the 8,000-meter course. Mosey was followed by sophomore Adrian Doty (31st, 25:15.7), freshman Sky Johnston (32nd, 25:30), sophomores George Morris (36th, 25:38.5), Russell Bush (37th, 25:43.2) and Tim Hearst (38th, 25:49), along with freshman Rusty Whisman (40th, 26:11.8).

UCSB’s Chris Ashley finished first in 23:51.7.

Both Anteater teams will compete in the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 12 at Stanford.20051030KP1KDN64No Caption