SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State women's cross country had two top-10 finishers lead the way to a fourth-place team finish out of 40 teams in the 6k on Saturday at the Capital Cross Challenge hosted by Sacramento State. Jennifer Sandoval had the best finish as the runner-up while Savanna Perez finished in seventh with a personal best 20:49.9
"The highlights were Jenny placing second and Savanna placing seventh," cross country head coach Brad Wick said. "Both did a great job of getting up front and really giving San Jose State a presence in the race. I also thought Mikayla Akers had a real outstanding race and gave us a strong number four runner."
Sandoval finished in 20:33.3, just 0:03.3 behind the winner, Kaylee Mitchell of Seattle Pacific. It's Sandoval's second top-2 finish in the first two meets of the season after winning the USF Invitational 6k. Evelin Meza finished in 25th with a time of 21:17.6 while Akers ran a 21:34.7 to finish in 43rd.
In the men's 8k, Luis Chavez paced the Spartans to a 14th-place finish with a personal-best 24:15.2 to finish in fifth. Jose Pina finished 12th with a time of 24:25.4.
"On the men's side Luis Chavez had a breakthrough race placing fifth overall," Wick said. "Jose was in the top three until the last mile, but had some extra tightness in his quad and dropped to 12th. Both teams have areas where we can close the gap's and make big improvements by the next competition."
The Spartans return to action on Saturday, October 19 at the Santa Clara Invitational in Sunnyvale.
SJSU INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS
| Women's 6K | ||
| 2. | Jennifer Sandoval | 20:33.3 |
| 7. | Savanna Perez | 20:49.9 |
| 25. | Evelin Meza | 21:17.6 |
| 43. | Mikayla Akers | 21:34.7 |
| 86. | Camilla Hanson | 21:58.7 |
| 98. | Juliette Noyer | 22:06.6 |
| 124. | Briana Valencia | 22:17.3 |
| 142. | Kai Bohannon | 22:29.5 |
| Men's 8K | ||
| 5. | Luis Chavez | 24:15.2 |
| 12. | Jose Pina | 24:25.4 |
| 57. | Edgar Bonilla | 24:59.8 |
| 140. | Evaristo Mateo | 25:44.3 |
| 181. | Omar Pina | 26:07.5 |
| 201. | Klaus Quinonez | 26:22.6 |