FRESNO, Calif. - Elizette Ysais placed sixth overall and the University of California, Merced men's and women's cross country teams opened their seasons at the Seawolf Invite Saturday morning at familiar Woodward Park.

Ysais finished the 5K in 19:29 to earn her seventh career top-ten finish and move into a tie with Sofia Rios for the most top-ten finishes in program history. Ysais' time also topped her previous Woodward Park personal best by three seconds set in last year's Cal Pac Championship meet. 

Alex Lopez placed 14th overall in 19:54 to help the women's team finish fourth among six schools, beating the host Sonoma State and Big West member Cal State Bakersfield.

Anjaneesa Ward (20th/20:22), Carissa Estrada (29th/20:55) and Jaydah Aguilar (31st/21:16) were the Bobcats other three scorers. Ward was just under ten seconds from her personal best.

Head coach Vicente Velarde's men's team was led by Nick Montijo as the senior crossed the finish line 24th overall, clocking a time of 22:15 in the men's four-mile run. 

The men's next four scorers were all within 30 seconds of Montijo: Omar Carr-Wallace (27th/22:22), Derrick Pickrel (28th/22:26), Noah Vasquez (22:38) and Sharvin Manjrekar (22:43). 

Saturday marked the first career race for both Pickrel and Manjrekar. 

The men's team placed fourth out of five teams, finishing ahead of Ventura College.

Both the men's and women's races had 49 individual finishers.

Fresno Pacific's Xavier Smith won the men's race in 20:15, while San Diego Mesa College won the race as a team with scorers finishing 3-6, and the final scorer taking ninth.

Fresno Pacific won the women's race behind top two finishers Yorkabel Gebrehiwot (1st/18:51) and Julissa Avila (2nd/18:55).

Looking ahead, UC Merced hosts the Ryan Nunez Bobcat Invitational on Saturday, September 17 beginning at 8:00am. The starting line and finishing chute will be at the Recreation Fields.