IRVINE, Calif. - Sophomore Lukas Amare claimed the individual title to lead the UC Irvine men's cross country team in the Anteater Opener Thursday at the ARC Fields on campus.
 
The Anteaters took two of the top-three spots for a runner-up finish. They scored 33 points, coming in just behind California Baptist (27), which is ranked seventh in the West Region. Fellow Big West schools Long Beach State and CSUN were third and fourth, respectively.
 
"It was exciting to have Lukas get his first collegiate cross country win on his home course," said UCI distance coach Casey Kear. "Lukas and the guys have been working really hard to take our program to the next level so he was really able to showcase that this evening. Josh (Schuld) also had a great race coming in third against some really good California Baptist and Long Beach State guys, and then Cam (Smith) and Jacob (Bustamante) saw big improvements from last year. The guys are starting to believe they can be good and compete with anyone in our conference. We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm excited about our trajectory and progression."
 
Amare won his first collegiate cross country race, completing the 6K course in a personal-record 18:26.0. He cut 36 seconds off his 6K time from last year's Anteater Opener.
 
Sophomore Joshua Schuld wasn't far behind in third, clocking a lifetime-best 18:29.1. It was his best finish in his young collegiate career.
 
Sophomores Jacob Bustamante (8th, 18:52.7) and Cameron Smith (9th, 18:56.2) both added a top-10 showing and a 6K personal best.
 
Sophomores Zeid Hussain (19:18.2) and Juan Sanchez (19:27.1) also established PRs, while classmate Henry McClish (19:34.5) rounded out UCI's top-seven.
 
The 'Eaters return to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, when they head to the Inland Empire for the UC Riverside Invitational.