The USC women’s cross-country team went to Saturday’s UC Irvine Invitational looking for a great start, and instead got a great finish.

Pacer · Senior Christine Cortez led USC at the 5K UC Irvine Invitational Saturday, finishing in 22nd place out of 122 with a final time of 18:26.6. - Courtesy of USC Sports Information

Despite a sluggish beginning, the Women of Troy took sixth overall at the UC Irvine 5K meet thanks to a solid last half of the race.

“At the beginning of the season everyone makes mistakes,” coach Tom Walsh said. “And our mistake was being too tentative at [the start of the race]. We got out really slow, but I don’t think any other team finished as strong as we did. Our girls had more left than anybody.”

Senior Christine Cortez led the charge for USC, which ran without three of its top runners, and placed 22nd overall in a field of 122. Junior Leah Gaeta was next for the Women of Troy at 33rd overall, followed by senior Dina Kitayama at 38th.

Senior Zara Lukens and redshirt sophomore Jessica Lundin crossed the line 43rd and 45th, respectively. Freshman Jaclyn Walles and sophomore Kelly Owen went in back-to-back at 57th and 58th.

“Basically, everyone ran pretty close to what I thought they’d run,” Walsh said. “It was very consistent with how they’ve been practicing. I’d call it a pretty good effort.”

USC finished behind Cal Poly San Luis Opisbo, Azusa Pacific, Cal State San Marcos, UC Irvine and Pepperdine. USC’s squad, however, was missing senior Zsofia Erdelyi, redshirt sophomore Shelby Buckley and sophomore Kathleen Moloney, all expected to be top contributors once the season heats up. Despite the absences, Walsh still liked what he saw Saturday.

“Some girls need a few races to build into the season,” he said. “It was a good first race for them. They’re all just going to keep getting better and better.”

When asked for the most important thing he noticed at UC Irvine, Walsh returned to the team’s less-than-stellar start and strong finish, noting that things might have been different had the race been a longer distance.

“I think we’re ready for the 6K races,” Walsh said. “I’m actually a little disappointed that this wasn’t a 6K because I think our girls were as prepared to go a little longer as anyone else out there. But we’re going to have to work on the start because that didn’t help us at all.”

USC will have two weeks to improve its race tactics before a marquee meet at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on Sept. 25. The Women of Troy expect to run at full strength at the race Walsh calls “one of the most important of the season.”