NIPOMO, Calif. - Junior Lukas Amare led UC Irvine with a top-10 individual finish at the 2023 Big West Cross Country Championships Friday morning at Blacklake Golf Resort.
 
Amare covered the 8K championship course in 24:17.8 to place 10th overall. Amare quickly made his way into the lead group and held steady in the top-10 throughout the race to earn All-Big West distinction for the second year in a row.
 
Junior Cameron Smith had a career-best Big West finish, coming in 20th with a time of 24:40.4.
 
Junior Jacob Bustamante was next across the line for the Anteaters in 34th (25:16.4). Junior Joshua Schuld (25:21.4), junior Juan Sanchez (25:23.6), freshman Jimmy Markowicz (25:36.9) and junior Zeid Hussain (25:47.2) rounded out UCI's top-seven.
 
As a team, the 'Eaters were seventh with 141 points. Cal Poly ran away with the team title as the hosts totaled 27 points with four finishers in the top-eight. The Mustangs' Davis Bove was the individual champion at 23:37.4.
 
UC Irvine will be back in action at the NCAA West Regional in Sacramento on Friday, Nov. 10.