CERES, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's and women's cross country teams placed top four at the Kim Duyst Twilight on Saturday night at River Oaks Golf Course.

Of the teams the Bobcats finished ahead of, the men finished ahead of CCAA member San Francisco State and PacWest squad Jessup. The UC Merced women also beat Jessup in addition to Dominican.

Jonathan Chavez led the way for the Bobcats with his first finish of the season being a program meet-record of 24:40.7. His time, over 20 seconds faster than the program's previous Kim Duyst record, was good for 13^th overall in the field.

Derrick Pickrel crossed the finish line next for the Bobcats with a personal-record time of 25:30.9 to come in 30^th. With his strong time, Pickrel claims the seventh spot on the program's all-time top ten list and third for the specific meet.

Joshua Riley (38^th/25:55.1) and Sharvin Manjrekar (39^th/26:02.7) finished close to each other, while Cole Rommelfanger joined the Bobcats scorers coming in 46^th with a time of 26:19.1 Riley's and Rommelfanger's times were personal-best's.

"Jonathan went straight to the front of the race and held a strong pace with a pack of runners from Chico State," head coach Vicente Velarde said. "Sharvin started the second loop of the race in the lead with a good feeling but eventually settled back to our fourth man after a side cramp. It says a lot about his confidence and I'm sure we'll see a few more guys finishing next to Jonathan or a lot closer to him throughout the season. Derrick, Josh, and Cole all had big improvements from last year to round out our top five. Jorge Mandujano and Sergio Vivar Jr. ran in their first 8km races and have shown a lot of potential as we look to solidify our top seven. We have a few key guys currently out of the lineup that did not race so the men are feeling very confident with how we'll perform in October with everyone lining up."

Freshman Irene Martinez highlighted the women's squad in her first career 6k running the fastest time ever by any Bobcat the Kim Duyst Invite clocking a time of 22:52.8. Overall, her time is the third fastest in any 6k race in program history. The Madera, Calif., native placed 21^st in Saturday night's field.

Elizette Ysais took second for the Bobcats and 28^th overall crossing the finish line in 23:38.4.

Leslie Aquino ran her first career 6k in 24:28.3 which was good enough for 39^th in the field and fifth on the program's Kim Duyst Invite top ten chart. Jaydah Aguilar (25:45.5) and Jailyn Batis (25:47.9) finished within three seconds of each other placing 48^th and 49^th overall.

Amelia Drummond made her collegiate cross country debut on Saturday.

"The women have shown a lot of improvement this year with the additions of Irene and Leslie both finishing first and third for our team over the last two meets" Velarde said. "They are learning the 6km distance but they handled it well against the top two returning teams from the CCAA. Jaydah and Elizette provide the veteran leadership we need and will help us have a solid scoring group against our upcoming NAIA competition. Kasia Holland and Jailyn ran a smart and conservative race and as long as they continue to close the gap to Leslie and Jaydah we should be a strong team when it comes to other NAIA teams."

Up next, UC Merced will race at the Pacific Invitational on Friday, September 20 at Micke Grove Golf Course in Lodi, Calif. The men's 8k is scheduled for 5:30pm with the women's 6k to follow at 6:15pm