Makau Wins Big West Cross Country Title, Women Take Fourth, Men Finish Seventh

Saturday, October 31

Riverside, CA

8:30 AM

UC Riverside

Big West Conference Championships

Makau Wins Big West Cross Country Title, Women Take Fourth, Men Finish Seventh

10/31/2015 11:55:00 AM | Women's Cross Country

Riverside, CA—UC Riverside's Faith Makau won the Big West Women's Cross Country individual title Saturday mornoing, which helped lead the women's team to a fourth place finish, while the Men's Cross Country Team finished seventh, led by Cody Jordan's 10th place showing.

(Big West Men's results / Big West Women's results)

On the women's side, the Highlanders finished with 109 points as a team landing them fourth, a familiar spot as they have finished there four times in the last six years.

Cal Poly won the Big West team title with 39 points, after placing five runners inside the top 11. UC Santa Barbara finished with 59 points, which was good enough for second, followed by UC Davis in third with 69.

Makau completed the 6k in 20:27.50, more than 20 seconds ahead of last year's fifth place showing in the conference championships, which established a new career best time in the 6k.

When asked about the victory, Makau said, "Coming into the race, I was confident in my training and my experience from last year, so I just knew if I ran smart and patient, it would go in my favor. The first two miles were very comfortable, it was an honest pace, it was comfortable for me. Then right before the 1200 I was just like, it's time to take it home now."

Sophomore Weslie Totten also had a strong performance Saturday, finishing fourth—her third top-five of the season. Totten established a new personal best in the 6k with a time of 20:43.80, trimming over 40 seconds off her previous mark.

Dominique Dowell had her best time of the year in the 6k at 21:57.98 to finish 30th, followed by Emily Sanchez in 36th, Briana Simmons in 44th, and Christina Shamirian in 68th.

UC Riverside's Men's Cross Country team was led by senior Cody Jordan, who finished 10th in his final home race. He has finished in the top 10 of all five events in which he raced this season.

UC Santa Barbara took home this year's Men's Big West title with 31 points, as they had a trio of seniors claim the top three spots. Byran Guijarro finished first, followed by Anthony Ortolan, and Shyan Vaziri.

Cal Poly did all it could to catch Santa Barbara, as the Mustangs had four runners inside the top 10 but still finished second with 36. UC Davis edged out Long Beach with 107 points, just ahead of the Beach's 109.

UCR's Solomon Demeku-Ousman finished 38th, followed by Garrett Hernandez in 41st. Aaron Nguyen was 44th, John Green 48th, Carlos Lopez 59^th and Douglas Castro 61st.

UC Riverside now has two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Regionals, Friday, November 13 in Seattle, WA.