ROCKLIN, Calif. - Elizette Ysais and the University of California, Merced women's cross country team won the Jessup Invitational on Saturday morning. The men's cross country team finished third as a team and were led by Juan Sanchez's fourth place finish.
The women's team, who has won a race in three consecutive years and four of the last five years, took first place with 33 points. The host William Jessup University came in second place with 57 points.
"The women's team ran well for a 6K race," head men's and women's cross country coach Vicente Velarde said. "Ysais, Anjaneesa Ward, and Alexandra Lopez ran together the first 3km of the race. Ysais continued to push the pace and pulled away from the entire group at 4km and ran solo the rest of the way for a first-place finish. The women were able to win the invitational with a great team effort. This was a rare but difficult 6km race for the ladies, there was a good amount of hills in each loop. We're also looking forward to the 5km race here in October at the Warrior Invitational."
Ysais paced the Bobcats in the women's 6K with a first place finish clocking a time of 24:31. Ysais' meet win was her program best fourth of her career and she finished 31 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Ward took fourth overall and crossed the finish line in 25:35 for her first career top five finish. Lopez cracked the top ten with a time of 25:53 for seventh place. Lopez has six career top ten finishes, the third most in program history.
Carissa Estrada (27:34) finished 16th and Jaydah Aguilar (28:04) took 18th place to score for the Bobcats and help the squad win the meet.
On the men's side, Sanchez took top honors for the Bobcats and earned his best finish ever, finishing fourth with a time 27:39 on the 8K course. Overall, it was his second top ten result.
Sharvin Manjrekar also finished in the top ten by taking seventh in 28:20 in just his second career race.
Noah Vasquez (29:23/12th), Derrick Pickrel (30:11/17th), and Josue Herrera (31:10/20th) also turned in strong performances for UC Merced.
The Bobcats as a team finished ahead of NAIA opponents William Jessup and Cal Maritime.
"The men's race was a good showing for our first 8K this season," Velarde said. "Sanchez was battling it out with Oregon Tech's top runner the entire race. He's been working really hard this summer and his body looked a lot stronger the entire race. He managed to hold on for 4th place. Our men's team is still a bit short handed as we held out three of our potential scoring runners. We're looking forward to racing nationally ranked Oregon Tech again in October when we return for the Warrior Invitational."
Looking ahead, the Bobcats will compete at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational on Saturday, October 15.
Photo Credit to Brie Campbell of William Jessup University
