RIVERSIDE, California - Junior Joanna Lopez ran a sub-19-minute 5,000 meters Saturday to lead Cal State San Bernardino's women's cross country team to a 14^th place finish among 21 teams competing at the UC Riverside Highlander Invitational.

Lopez was timed in 18:58.2 as she crossed the finish line in 34^th place among the 237 runners. Senior Helena Valdez took 47^th spot in 19:08.7 while sophomore Kai Marroquin was 62^nd in 19:23.7.

Twelve Yotes ran personal bests over the 3.1 mile course.

Lopez improved her personal best by 28 seconds. Valdez improved her PR by 45 seconds. Marroquin lowered her best time by 26 seconds. Samantha Avila, who finished 79^th in 19:39.6 improved her 2023 best by 47 seconds. The fifth CSUSB runner to finish, freshman Hailey Lynk, ran 19:56.7, her personal best by 46 seconds. She finished 91^st.

Other CSUSB runners lowered their personal best times by one to two minutes including freshman Jordan Dennert (2 minutes) and senior Tayonna Hargrove (1 minute, 16 seconds.)

"Today was a great day and the team did awesome," said Head Coach Lauren Podgaysky. 

"This was our second meet of the season and they crushed their times from last week's 5K. It was a large field but our Yotes stayed strong and packed up close with our 1 through 5 team gap measuring only 59 seconds," said Assistant Coach Nicole McDonald.

The Yotes team finished with 313 points in a team time of 1:37.08, an average of 19:26 per runner, which put them in front of NCAA Division I teams from Fresno State, Pepperdine and the host UCR team. CCAA conference rival Cal State San Marcos took third place overall in the race.

Meanwhile, CSUSB's top cross country runner in 2022 – Alexis Wallace – competed unattached in the women's 6K invitational run and improved her personal best by 34 seconds finishing the 6,000 meters in 21:24.3, good for 33^rd place among 172 runners. Her time would have been good enough to place her fourth on the CSUSB all-time performance list for the distance. Her 21:58.6 time from the 2022 Highlander Invitational while competing for CSUSB ranks her No. 7 on the all-time list.
 
NEXT UP: The Yotes will compete in their first 6K meet of the season at the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Challenge on Sept. 23. CSUSB finished 11^th in a 17-team field in 2022. "(We) are excited to see what we do in our first 6K of the season," McDonald said. 
 
CSUSB RUNNERS
Joanna Lopez, 18:58.2
Helena Valdez, 19:08.7
Kai Marroquin, 19:23.8
Samantha Avila, 19:39.6
Hailey Lynk, 19:56.7
Jordan Dennert, 20:12.0
Tayonna Hargrove, 20:27.0
Liana Brehm, 20:28.6
Caty Gaynor, 21:00.1
Marie Rojas, 21:03.2
Amanda Lynch, 21:23.7
Arlene Castro, 21:29.0
Diana Vera, 21:36.3
Briana Johnson, 23:05.5
Gisele Cabrera, 23:20.8