Anteaters sparkle at Big West

The UC Irvine women’s team finished third and the Anteater men’s

team was sixth in the Big West Conference Cross Country Championships

at the UC Riverside Agricultural Operations Course Saturday.

Idaho, behind individual champion Letiwe Marakurwa, won the

women’s competition with 48 points. UCI third with 72 in the 10-team

field. Marakurwa covered the 5,000-meter course in 17:47.0 en route to Big West Athlete of the Year honors.

UCI senior Amanda Armstrong finished eighth in 18:24.1 and

sophomore Kaleena Yee was ninth in 18:26.6 as both earned

all-conference honors. Anteater junior Julie Manson placed 13th

(18:38.5), Janelle Del Soldato was 19th (18:47.6), Wendy Chan was

23rd (18:54.5), Veronica

Herrera finished 25th (19:00.1) and Jenna Keith was 31st in

19:03.8.

Utah State won the men’s championship with 25 points.UCI was sixth

with 159 points in the nine-school field.

UCI freshman Tom Whelan finished 20th in 25:53.1, sophomore Andrew

Garratt was 29th (26:10.8) and senior Travis Morisoli placed 37th in

26:26.0.

Brian Harrison finished 38th with a time of 26:30.3, John Kluve

was 39th (26:31.8), Jules Castano placed 43rd (26:34.8) and Ricky

Barnes finished 54th in 27:05.3.