After an impressive second-place finish at its first meet — the Pepperdine Waves Invite — USC cross country had high expectations for its performance at the UC Riverside Invitational over the weekend.

In the second race of the season, the Trojans took 11th place overall out of 32 teams in the Women’s 5k Open on Saturday. 

At 249 points less than USC, Cal Poly Pomona topped the invitational with 77 points — fewer points being better. The Pepperdine Invite on Sept. 4 saw the Trojans in second place overall after excellent performances from each of the athletes on the course. 

The only team to beat USC at the last race was Pepperdine itself. However, the 32 placing teams at Riverside were far more than the five at Pepperdine, introducing lots of new competition to the Trojans.

Unlike the Pepperdine 4k, the Trojans ran a 5k for the first time this year around the UCR course. The course itself, known as the Agricultural Operations Course, surrounds Riverside’s citrus groves, adjacent to its Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station.  

The Ag/Ops course held multiple races Saturday, including the Women’s 6k, Women’s 5k and Men’s 8k. The Trojans only participated in the 5k competition, starting at 8:25 a.m. during the crisp morning. The five Trojans took off for their just over 3-mile run against 295 other athletes. 

Similar to the last race, five athletes ran for USC at the invitational, including freshmen Monserrat Santillian Silva, Ivanka Malysheva, Alexandra Sparno, and seniors Paige Unger and Isabella Duarte. 

The strong Trojan performances earned them 326 points overall, beating out 21 other teams participating in the Women’s 5k. USC showed signs of promise at the invitational, and while its second-place finish just two weeks ago set the bar high, the performances are hard to compare with the introduction of over 250 new opponents at UCR.

A standout performance came from Silva, the highest-placing Trojan. She placed fourth in the race, earning a time of 17:58.3. 

Silva, who joined USC from Century High School in Santa Ana, is no stranger to cross country success. Her excellent performance at this race mirrored her second-place finish in the previous Pepperdine race, as well as her performance as a high school athlete. 

Not only is Silva a consecutive cross country individual league champion, but she is also a Division 4 individual cross country champion and Female Athlete of the Year for both 2025 and 2026 at Century.  

Other impressive Trojan runners included Malysheva, whose time of 18:25.6 earned her 22nd place among 296 finishers, and Unger, who earned 33rd place thanks to a 18:34.6 finish.

Malysheva is another highly decorated newcomer to the cross country team. She placed fifth in her debut at Pepperdine with a time of 14:05.8, following several accomplishments at Palos Verdes High School. Her high school team qualified for the CIF state meet every year during her time there, and she individually won Cross Country Most Valuable Runner in 2025 and Most Outstanding Distance Runner in both 2025 and 2026.

Unger, the third-highest-placing Trojan, is in her second year with the team. Since her collegiate debut a year ago at UCR’s 2025 Invitational, she has participated in seven cross country races, along with three events for the Trojan track and field squad last spring. 

Largely consisting of freshmen, the Trojan roster brings excitement but also leaves space for growth, as the four freshman runners continue into the next five competitions of the season. 

Along with new runners, a new leader, Assistant Coach for Distance and Cross Country Sean Brosnan, joined the Trojan family in July. Brosnan is just as new as many of his athletes, and should see progression just as they do as the season continues. 

The squad will be returning to the Riverside Ag/Ops Course on Oct. 17, for the Highlander Invitational. The Trojans’ will travel to Santa Clarita next for the Master’s University Invitational  at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 3.