By Kevin Wing — Editor
San Jose State seniors Jennifer Sandoval and Savanna Perez finished in the top 10 for women’s cross country.
Sophomore Luis Chavez did the same for the men as the Spartans finished fourth out of 40 teams at Saturday’s Capital Cross Challenge at Sacramento State.
In the women’s 6k, Sandoval had the best finish as the runner-up with 20:33.3, just 0:03.3 behind leader Kaylee Mitchell of Seattle Pacific. Perez placed seventh with a personal best 20:49.9.
“The highlights were Jenny placing second and Savanna placing seventh,” said head coach Brad Wick.
“Both did a great job of getting up front and really giving San Jose State a presence in the race. I also thought Mikayla Akers had a real outstanding race and gave us a strong number four runner.”
Saturday’s race for Sandoval was her second top-two finish in the first two meets of the season, which includes her 6k win at the University of San Francisco Invitational.
Sophomore Evelin Meza followed Sandoval and Perez with a 25th-place finish with a time of 21:17.6, while sophomore Mikayla Akers finished 21:34.7 to place 43rd.
For the men, Chavez paced the Spartans in the 8k with a personal-best 24:15.2 to finish in fifth. Senior Jose Pina finished 10 seconds after Chavez, placing 12th with a time of 24:25.4.
“On the men’s side, Luis Chavez had a breakthrough race placing fifth overall,” Wick added.
“Jose was in the top three until the last mile, but had some extra tightness in his quad and dropped to 12th. Both teams have areas where we can close the gaps and make big improvements by the next competition.”
SJSU has time to prepare for the Santa Clara Invitational Oct. 19 in Sunnyvale.
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