By Haddy Barghouti (HB_SportsBeat) – Spear Reporter | (Photo Courtesy of SJSU Athletics)
San Jose State’s cross country team competed in its second invitational of the season on Friday at San Francisco State’s Invitational, held at Golden Gate Park’s Speedway Meadow.
The Spartans posted strong team performances, with the men’s team finishing seventh with a score of 178, while the women’s team placed ninth with a score of 240.
Junior Alexander Walker led the men’s team, placing 25th in the 8K race with a time of 25:50.5. Walker was closely followed by junior Will Bujake, who finished 26th with a time of 25:53.3.
In his previous performance at the USF Invitational on August 29, Walker ran a faster time of 25:24.3 but finished 31st, improving his placement despite a slightly slower pace.
Freshman distance runner Brandon Wofford also cracked the top 50, finishing 44th in the men’s race with a time of 26:19.5.
On the women’s side, junior distance runner Amanda Chalburg led the team with the fastest time of the day, finishing 10th in the 6K race with a time of 22:11.8.
Chalburg was the only Spartan in the top 50, with junior Nereyda Alvarez-Gonzalez finishing 54th.
Spartans assistant coach David Verburg believes the team is in a great position following this competition.
“This is a really good place to be as a team. We’re about 10 seconds faster than we were at this time last year on the men’s side, and about five seconds faster than we were at this time last year on the women’s side,” Verburg said.
The Spartans had eight additional runners finish on the men’s side and seven on the women’s side.
“We’re in a really good place moving into our last invite, which is the Bronco Invite, and then heading on to the Mountain West Conference,” Verburg said.
The men’s race featured 172 competitors, while the women’s race had 130 athletes.
SJSU will look to keep things rolling as they head to the Bronco Invitational at 9 a.m. on Oct. 18 at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Cali, their third straight invitational in the Bay Area.
