The CSUN women’s cross country team finished in sixth place while the men finished 10th at the UC Riverside Cross Country Invitational Sept. 30.

In the women’s 5k run, Julie Hancock finished in the top spot for Northridge and 12th overall with a time of 18:13. Cherie McPherson finished in the second top spot for CSUN and 31st overall at 18:59 while Diane Rosete (19:22) finished 47th overall.

Host UC Riverside dominated the meet, placing six runners in the top 10. Lisa Lopez finished in the top spot for UC Riverside and second overall with a time of 17:40. Brenda Martinez finished fifth overall with a time of 17:55, followed by four other Riverside runners taking the sixth through ninth place positions.

Cal Coast Track Club’s Frisone Heather took the top position overall with a time of 17:30.

As a team, the women finished with a combined 1:36:18, placing them in sixth place with 189 points. Southern Utah finished just ahead of Northridge with 181 points. UC Riverside took the top spot with 19 points with Pepperdine in second trailing with 115 points.

For the men’s 8k run, Manuel Ruiz placed 14th overall with a time of 25:03. Diego Hernandez finished in 26:11, placing him in 40th place. Other CSUN runners included Jacinto Garcia who finished 59th in a time of 26:37, Michael Stotland placed 75th at 27:03 and Jonathan Tan, who finished 11 seconds after Stotland.

Pomona Pitzer’s Will Leer finished in the top spot with a time of 24:14.

As a team, the Matadors placed 10th with a total of 233 points, finishing with a combined total time of 2:12:09. CSUN placed ahead of Western New Mexico with 252 points. Southern Utah placed first overall with 68 points, followed by UC Riverside with 78 points.

Next up, the cross country team will head to Las Vegas for the UNLV Invitational on Oct. 7.