IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's cross country team kicked off the 2022 campaign with a runner-up finish in the Anteater Opener Thursday at the ARC Fields on campus.
 
California Baptist, which is ranked sixth in the West Region, defended its title from a year ago. UCI took second and was followed by Long Beach State, San Diego State and CSUN.
 
"I'm really pleased with the women's first effort of the year," said UCI distance coach Casey Kear. "We were really competitive, had some really good packs and showed depth across the board. Sameen (Andar) had a great race, leading us for the first time in her career, so she's way ahead of where she was at this point a year ago. Anna (Vogtmann) and the group following were able to have a pretty good spread which is important to us and something we're continuing to talk about as a team. I feel like the group as a whole is significantly ahead of where we were at this time in 2021."
 
Sophomore Sameen Andar paced the 'Eaters as she was fourth in a school-record 14:10.4. Andar, who shaved nearly 44 seconds off her personal best, topped Hannah Chau's standard of 14:11.0 from last year's Anteater Opener.
 
Sophomore Anna Vogtmann also clocked a personal-record 14:24.9 for an 11th-place showing. Her mark ranks fifth in program history.
 
Sophomores Olivia Liuson (14:41.3) and Maggie Sczupak (14:42.5) weren't far behind in 13th and 14th, respectively. They both cracked UC Irvine's all-time top-10 with their 4K lifetime bests.
 
Sophomore transfer Malia Gay (14:48.1), senior Evelin Meza (14:55.3) and junior McKenna Paulson (15:08.9) all added top-25 finishes.
 
UCI returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, when it heads to the Inland Empire for the UC Riverside Invitational.