RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Nevada's Men's and Women's Cross Country programs completed their second competition of 2024 Saturday at the UCR Invitational in Riverside, Calif.
"We had some great performances today. This was the first 6k for Women and 8k for Men. Over half of both our squads set PR's in their first shot at this distance this season," said Nevada Cross Country head coach
Kirk Elias.
The 6k was up first for the Women and the Wolf Pack had six places in the top-75 in this strong West Coast field, which included nationally recognized CBU, Cal Poly and Arizona State.
Claire Nelson led the way for the Wolf Pack with a phenomenal race setting the #4 time in school history, smashing her PR by over 40 seconds, placing 21st with a time of 20:30.2. Next best was
Natalia Martino who ran a great race, coming in 46th at 20:58.7. Rounding out the top-75 finishers were
Madelyn Shipman (21:11.6) in 63rd,
Paulina Hultberg (21:18.2) and
Marina Renna (21:18.6) in 69th and 70th respectively, and
Ashley Boone (21:22.9) in 75th.
Next up on race day was the Men's 8k, where the Wolf Pack had three finishers in the top-100 out of the 247-man field. Sophomore
Jaedyn Chase also set the #4 time in school history, like Nelson, breaking his PR by more than 40 seconds. Chase led the team, placing in 55th with a time of 24:18.4. The next finisher for the Wolf Pack was
Celime Garcia (24:34.7) finishing in 78th. Rounding out the top-100 finishers was
Eddie Yunker (24:43.4) in 92nd. Just outside of the top-100 was Freshman and Reno native
Austin Key in 102nd with a time of 24:50.4.
"We were better today than we were at NAU to open the season. We will be better at Oregon. I am excited to see what they can accomplish," Elias added.
The Nevada teams return to action Oct. 11 at the Dellinger Invitational hosted by nationally ranked Oregon.
Nevada Results
Men Invite (8k)
55. Jaedyn Chase - 24:18.4
78. Celime Garcia - 24:34.7
92. Eddie Yunker - 24:43.4
102. Austin Key - 24:50.4
113. Dillon Walker - 24:56.3
125. Sergio Mazon - 25:03.6
170. Jackson Hammons - 25:27.7
172. Soma Baligad - 25:28.5
182. Pierce Simpkins - 25:36.1
212. James Gramling - 26:03.1
Men Open (8k)
29. Cael Mattioli - 25:27.8
Women Invite (6k)
21. Claire Nelson - 20:30.2
46. Natalia Martino - 20:58.7
63. Madelyn Shipman - 21:11.6
69. Paulina Hultberg - 21:18.2
70. Marina Renna - 21:18.6
75. Ashley Boone - 15:54.52
93. Hannah Lee - 21:34.5
99. Aubrey Thompson - 21:39.2
Women Open (5k)
8. Natalie Roberts - 17:53.7
20. Skylar Bennett - 18:16.8
24. Kylee Denver - 18:20.5
122. Mary DeMartini - 19:23.6
