Cross country runs full-strength at UC Riverside Invitational
The Trojans placed 23rd overall at their second meet of the season.
Early Saturday morning, USC cross country traveled to Riverside, Calif., for the Trojans’ second meet of the year at the UC Riverside Invitational, bringing home a 23rd-place finish out of a total of 24 qualifying teams on Riverside’s Agricultural Operations Course.
The group of five runners secured USC’s first official placement this season, after the team failed to produce enough runners to compete for placement at the Pepperdine Waves Invitational on Aug. 29. The invite also marked the Trojans’ first full-length competition at six kilometers of the season, as the Waves Invitational featured a shortened four-kilometer course.
Sophomore Holli Prest led the Trojans for the second straight meet, finishing her race with a time of 21:44.5 to place 94th overall out of 220 runners. Prest has been making waves in her first season with USC, also finishing first out of the team at the Waves Invitational, where she finished 13th.
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Shortly following Prest was redshirt senior Jacqueline Duarte, who finished 108th at 21:51.3. Juniors Haley Spoden and Isabella Duarte also had strong showings, posting career-best times of 22:19.9 for 151st place and 22:49.1 for 188th, respectively.
Rounding out USC’s lineup was junior Paige Unger, who ran a 23:50.6 in her collegiate racing debut, good for 212th place overall.
Head Coach Brenda Martinez was no stranger to the course, having competed for the Highlanders’ cross country team during her time at Riverside.
“I’m happy overall. The girls, they held their own today, so I’m proud of them,” Martinez said in an interview with the Daily Trojan after the meet.
However, Martinez said she would keep pushing the team forward, highlighting a balance of training with adequate rest and recovery.
“I feel like there’s always going to be something to work on. For them, we just need a little bit more time with fitness,” Martinez said. “Right now, they are running on tired legs. I told them, ‘You guys can still run pretty well, even on tired legs,’ and they did that today.”
The Trojans will return to Riverside’s Agricultural Operations Course in less than three weeks for the Highlander Classic on Oct. 18. Before then, however, they will hope for a stronger showing on Oct. 4, when they will head to Claremont, Calif., for the Pomona-Pitzer Invite at 8:30 a.m.
