SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Leslie Aquino and Kitto Gonzalez led the University of California, Merced cross country teams and earned All-CCAA honors at the CCAA Championships Saturday morning at CSUSB's XC Course. Aquino and Gonzalez are UC Merced's first ever All-CCAA Cross Country honorees.

Aquino placed 15^th overall and broke the program's women's 6k record with a time of 21:11.7.

Freshman Emma Drelinger followed in 23^rd with a time of 21:43.6. Maitha Alradaei finished 61^st with a personal-best time of 22:55.1, good for seventh on the program's all-time top 10 list. Irene Martinez placed 75^th in 23:22.5 and Gabriela Zarat Ruiz rounded out the Bobcats scorers with an 88^th place finish in 23:51.3. Mariah Dhillon (89^th/24:03.4) and Jimena Hernandez-Tejada (100^th/24:48.4) ran personal-best times.

The women's team finished eighth overall with 229 points, finishing two spots higher than the 2025 campaign.

Gonzalez placed 14th in the men's 8k with a time of 25:11.4 to earn All-CCAA.

Jonathan Chavez was the Bobcats second scorer and crossed the finish line 33^rd in 26:08.0. Chavez returned to the cross country course for the first time since October 5, 2024. Sharvin Manjrekar was next in 59^th place with a time of 26:56.4. Noah Felix made his UC Merced debut and placed 65^th in 27:11.6. Kevin Pedroza followed in 67^th recording a time of 27:17.2.

The men's team finished ninth overall with 219 points.

Up next, UC Merced will compete in its first ever NCAA West Regionals on Saturday, November 21 at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, Calif.