Results

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's cross country team finished 18th at The Master's University XC Invitational Saturday morning.
 
"We haven't raced close to our potential yet this year and our boys have to stay focused and trust the process," UCI distance coach Casey Kear said. "It's a long season and the most important races are still ahead."
 
The Anteaters were up bright and early, opening the meet with a 7 a.m. race time at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Sophomore Sebastian Bautista led the way as he came in 43rd out of 297 overall runners. Bautista, who was UCI's No. 1 finisher for the third time in as many meets, covered the 8000-meter course in 26:08.9.
 
Sophomore Christian Hernandez also came in 76th at 26:55.4, while senior Jhamani Long was 119th (27:41.2).
 
"Sebastian has been a consistent leader for us and Christian has shown a lot of growth as a sophomore," Kear added. "We will be looking for big races from them in the weeks ahead."
 
Freshman Michael McCarthy (28:55.3) and sophomore Omar Adel (29:42.5) rounded out the 'Eater lineup.
 
Senior Sam Ayala is still out with an injury, while freshmen Nick Krohn and Jason Messner did not compete this weekend.
 
UC Irvine will now have a few weeks off to prepare for the Highlander Invitational (Oct. 19), which is the team's final tune-up before the Big West Championships (Nov. 2). Both meets will take place at the UCR Ag/Ops Course in Riverside.