The Cal State San Marcos women’s cross-country team is headed to Nationals, thanks to a second-place finish at Saturday’s Regionals. 

 

Held at Fresno Pacific University, the event featured the region’s twelve teams competing to go to the National Championships in Wisconsin.  CSUSM finished 17 points behind first-place Azusa Pacific, and 1 point ahead of third-place Biola.  While the 11^th-ranked Cougars didn’t win, the strong showing will be more than enough to earn them a bid to Nationals.

 

Freshman Jessica Sandoval led the way, finishing in 8^th place with a time of 18:17.  For Sandoval, it’s the first time in her Cougar career that she’s been the squad’s top finisher, and she picked an excellent time to run her best race of the season.  Just one second behind was teammate Whitney Patton, who ran 18:18 and placed 9^th.

 

Sophomore Morgan Sjogren, who until Saturday had been the squad’s top finisher at every competition this season, finished 14^th with a time of 18:33.  Joy Leon gave the team a boost, running 18:47 to finish 17^th.  Rounding out the top five was Stephanie Cook, who placed 27^th with a time of 19:11.  Other Cougars competing were Lindsey McKown (32^nd; 19:14) and Mallory Bawkey (45^th: 20:08).

 

It was a strong top-to-bottom effort for the team – one that they’ll hope to build upon on November 17^th at Nationals.