San Diego State’s Jessica Kain prevails in women’s 6-kilometer race in 19:58.3, with Brint Laubach of The Master’s College securing victory in the men’s 8-kilometer competition in 23:42.6; UC Riverside men roll with 63 points, with Long Beach State women winning tight battle with 81 points

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Little by little, the performances of the UC Riverside cross country teams have been getting better and better.

Yet, there was nothing little about what the Highlanders pulled off on their town turf Saturday morning at the Highlander Invitational.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

UC Riverside won its own event for the first time in nine years, as junior Josh Mendoza and sophomore Tyler Kaan spearheaded an effort that saw the Highlanders win with 63 points.

The Master’s College was runner-up with 123 points and Big West rival Cal State Fullerton took third at 135 points.

Master’s senior Brint Laubach won the men’s individual 8-kilometer crown in 23 minutes, 42.6 seconds.

Long Beach State won the women’s team title with 81 points, holding Cal State Fullerton (90 points) and UC Riverside (95 points).

San Diego State senior Jessica Kain (19:58.3) claimed an individual crown in the women’s 6-kilometer race with a victory over Master’s junior Hannah Fredericks (20:08.0).

With the Highlanders’ win, both Mendoza and Kaan were pleased to see continued progression on their Ag-Ops course, and everywhere else, for that matter.

“I think it means just so much, because as a program, we’re just building back,” Mendoza said. “So it’s another milestone, another jump forward for this program. It’s really good. It feels really nice.”

Kaan,who was followed by Ashraf Abdelmagid (13th), Andrew Castellon (18th) and Sean Caster (31st) to round out Highlanders’ five scorers, shared that optimism. UCR’s last win at the Highlander Invitational was 2014.

“I think we’re probably in the best spot we’ve been in a very, very long time,” Kaan said.

Laubach surged at the end to win, taking the lead in the final mile to edge Cal Baptist freshman Joaquin Campos (second, 23”44.3)

“It was a very quick start. The front pack stuck together for a long time,” Laubach said. “I felt like I was confident in the sense that my coach and my teammates were there supporting me.”

Running for Performance Elite RC, Salvador Capetillo finished third, also his result at the UC Riverside Invitational on the same Ag-Ops course. His time of 23:46.5 was nearly identical to the 23:46.2 he achieved at the Sept. 16 event.

Ian Crocker, running unattached, was fourth in 23:50.3.

Daniel Sayo led Nevada to a fourth-place team finish with a sixth-place effort in 23:54.3. He was followed by a pair of Cal Baptist runners, which had its ‘A’ team achieve a fourth-place finish Friday at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.

Roman Zozulya was seventh in 23:54.3 and Tyler Tickner was eighth in 23:58.1 for Cal Baptist.

The Master’s senior Daniel Rush rounded out the top 10 in 24:03.3.

Kain, who describes herself as more of a 1,500-meter athlete, ran a controlled race on the women’s side, staying in fourth place until a final-mile move put her into the lead and she never relinquished control.

“Something about today, I was really mentally together the whole way and just kind of held on until that last 1K and then see what I could do,” Kain said. “I definitely surprised myself, breaking 20 (minutes) was the goal. We did and we won.”

Following Kain was Fredericks and another UC Riverside runner, sophomore Dariana Miramontes, in third at 20:11. Cal State Fullerton’s Mia Bergman was fourth in 20:19.

Cal Baptist’s Abir Reffas was fifth in 20:35.3 and UC San Diego’s Emma Dunmire sixth in 20:36.5.

Long Beach State junior Allie Scimia was seventh in 20:36.9, but that set up the women’s team performance for the 49ers.

Long Beach State, with only Scimia in the top 10, triumphed by putting all five scorers in the top 30.

“We came into the meet hoping to get a win,” Scimia said. “Last month here, we got second, so we’re really, really happy. I’m super proud of all the work the girls put in.”

Running unattached, Eline Pinter was eighth in 20:38.0, Arizona State’s Sadie Heeringa achieved ninth in 20:38.5, and former Cal State Fullerton standouts Samantha Huerta (20:39.1) and Trinity Ruelas (20:42.8) were 10th and 11th, respectively.