By Joanna Chavez (@chavez80207) – Spear Reporter | Photo via Sarah Mosteller
The SJSU cross-country team finished in 11th place at the USF Invitational season opener.
The women’s team had six competitors in the 6K race and the men’s team had nine competitors in the 8K race through the scenic Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
The women’s team finished with 301 points, behind Fresno State, which completed with a total of 296 points.
Freshman Amanda Chalburg was the top finisher for the women’s team, placing 37th with a time of 22:20.9. Less than 20 seconds later, sophomore Constance O’Neal crossed the finish line, placing 46th.
Senior Amelio Chico finished in 41st place for the men’s team with a time of 25:22.6. Under a minute later, sophomore Michael Chadwick came in 56th place with a time of 26:07.8.
The men’s team finished with 315 points, trailing ten points behind UC Santa Cruz.
“Our mindset was just to gain experience for racing at this level as far as the 6K and 8K. The team is very young, so this was the first time for a majority of them so I felt that they did a good job,” said head coach Charmine Darden.
Now that the meet has concluded, Darden looks forward to “even greater things happening in the future.”
The next competition for the SJSU cross-country team will be on September 29th at the Pacific College Invitational hosted by the University of the Pacific in Lodi, California.