SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Annaka Barragan (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago) and Olivia Jarvis (Oceanside, Calif. / El Camino HS) both cracked the 20-minute barrier for the first time as collegians to highlight University of Hawai'i Hilo efforts at the Coyote Challenge on Saturday morning on the campus of Cal State University San Bernardino.
Barragan ran 19:34 over the five kilometer course, nearly a minute faster than she ran in her first collegiate race three weeks ago at the Big Wave Invitational. Jarvis checked in at 19:45, also much faster than she ran the first time she was in a college singlet (20:24).
Barragan finished 80th overall, 75th when you take the unattached runners out of the picture. Jarvis was six spots behind her in the field of 212 runners. As a team, the Vulcans finished 14th of 20 squads.
Next for the Vulcans in their all-freshman line-up were Makena Morris (Chino Hills, Calif. / Ayala HS) (20:16), Caitlin Kawaiaea (Waianae, Hawai`i / Nanakuli HS) (21:02), Lily Gavagan (Pukalani, Hawai'i/Kamehameha Schools Maui) (23:46), and Shaelee West (Chandler, Ariz. / Hamilton HS/) (25:32).
"Everyone ran significantly faster than they did in their first race," said Vulcans head coach Jaime Guerpo. "With such a young team, we are just looking for improvement from week to week, and I feel like we accomplished that today."
Cal State San Marcos won the team title with 68 points, followed closely by No. 11 nationally-ranked (Division III) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (74 points). UC San Diego was in third (82) with host Cal State San Bernardino next (149) and No. 14 Cal Poly Pomona (Division II) finished fifth with 165 points.
Two unattached runners finished 1-2 with Angelica Salas (17:30) and Casey Monoszlay (17:35) crossing the line first. The top collegiate runner was Redland's Maria Rameriz (17:48), followed by Shelby Eberwein of Cal State San Marcos (17:52) and Erika Taylor of Cal State Los Angeles (17:55).
The Vulcans will return to Hilo to host their only home meet of the season next Saturday (Sept. 29), the UH Hilo Invitational at the Naniloa Golf Course (7:30 a.m.).
