The University of Redlands cross country teams kicked off the 2016 campaign by hosting the Redlands Invitational on Saturday morning. The Bulldog women recorded a first-place finish, while the men took second in the team standings.
Individually, senior Jessika Snincsak (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) paced the Maroon and Gray with her career-best time on the 4500-meter course of 17:15, which landed her seventh overall.
Freshman Maria Ramirez (Orange, CA) made the most of her collegiate debut by crossing the finish line in 10th place with a time of 17:31. Freshman Sarah Shipway (Lafayette, CA) also impressed in her first race as a Bulldog with her 13th-place finish in 18:16.
Junior Kaylee Jorgensen (Claremont, CA) rounded out the top Redlands runners with a time of 18:43, which came after sprinting past competitors from Los Angeles Harbor College down the final stretch.
For the men, junior Sean Unger (Carlsbad, CA) and sophomore Benjamin Casey (Highland Park, IL) posted Redlands' fastest times by completing the 6k-race in fourth (19:35) and fifth place (19:37), respectively.
Seniors Abhinav Nagpal (Cypress, CA) and Erik Chazin (Hollis, NH) provided quality times as well, with Chazin bettering his previous mark at this meet by nearly 40 seconds with today's time of 20:27 for 13th place. Nagpal recorded a time of 20:08 to take 12th.
Junior David Galindo (East Los Angeles, CA) and freshman Nolan Ridgeway (Long Beach, CA) also finished among the top 20 runners overall, earning times of 20:42 and 20:53, respectively. Galindo's time was a career-best on this course by nearly a minute, while Ridgeway was the first Bulldog rookie to complete the race.
Redlands looks forward to competing in the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, September 17, at 7:30 a.m.
