RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Cross Country teams took part in the Highlander Invitational hosted by UC Riverside Saturday with the men coming in 15th and the women 22nd.
Men
The Bulldogs had a strong showing finishing ahead of five Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) teams trailing only to Pomona-Pitzer. Redlands' average team time was a 25:46, :24 seconds better than Occidental College who finished in 16th.
The top finisher for the Maroon and Grey was Enrique Verschoor (Mar del Plata, Argentina) who came in 48th with a time of 24:49.7 and a mile average time of 4:59.7. His time set a new personal best, beating out his previous top time from the 2019 Highlander by :34.6 seconds. He also improved his mile time by :30.5 seconds from the Waves Invitational two weeks ago. Verschoor now sits No. 2 All-Time in the Record Books.
Ronan Byrne (Portola Valley, CA) ran a personal best as well with a 25:27.1, while coming in 84th. His 8K time is 1:09.4 faster than his previous best from the UCR Invitational on September 17 as he moves to No. 11 All-Time in the record books. Byrne posted a 5:07.2 mile average.
Rogelio Salcido (Beaumont, CA) was also a notable finisher for UR coming in 104th with a time of 25:52.4. He had an average mile time of 5:12.3 and ranks No. 15 All-Time in the record books. Other finishers included David Huggins (Salem, OR) (132nd – 26:15.9), Brandon Farnsworth (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) (142nd – 26:28.3), Riley Lathrop (Honolulu, HI) (152nd – 26:38.9), Daniel Quintana (Ocean Park, WA) (176th – 26:55.6), Nolan Brown (La Crescenta, CA) (195th – 27:32.5), Alejandro Ayala (Fontana, CA) (220nd – 28:07.3), and Easton Means (Moraga, CA) (246th – 29:04.4).
Women
Redlands was without their top runner, Chloe Bullock (Hood River, OR) who was out due to illness but they still put together a team average time of 23:45.
Redlands was led by six personal bests: Sheriane Greene (Grass Valley, CA), Abigail Johnson (Westborough, MA), Sailor Brown (San Diego, CA), Cece Matteson (Seattle, WA), Ella Billeter (Bend, OR), and Isabella Anderson (Severn, MD).
Greene came in 136th and ran a 23:25.3, a new personal best by :29.5 seconds, besting her 23:54.8 at the Highlander Invitational last season. Johnson was the second Bulldog inside the Top-150, running a 23:36.2. Her time is an improvement of 1:05.5 from her time just two weeks ago at the Waves Invitational. Brown just missed the Top-150 at No. 153, but recorded a personal best of 23:38.3. She is another Bulldog who made major improvement from two weeks ago where she set her previous personal best of 25:05.8.
Other finishers for the Maroon and Grey included Matteson (163rd – 23:49.2), Eve Mavy (Thayne, WY) (186th – 24:16.8), Billeter (239th – 25:57.8), and Anderson (26:05.0).
The Bulldogs will have two weeks away from competition before they head to Chino, CA for the SCIAC Championships on Saturday, September 29 beginning at 8:45 a.m.