The CSUN women’s cross country team posted five runners in the top 10 finishers as they finished in first place at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas on Oct. 7.

It is the first invitational win of the year for the Matadors.

The men’s cross country team finished last out of three teams despite a second-place overall finish by senior Manuel Ruiz.

In the women’s 5k run, the Matadors were led by senior Julie Hancock, who finished in the top spot for CSUN and second overall with a time of 18:16. Junior Diane Rosete finished second for the Matadors and sixth overall with a time of 19:10.

Junior Cherie McPherson followed Rosete, finishing seventh overall in 19:25.

Freshman Marissa Crook and senior Julia Flores finished in the ninth and tenth spots with times of 19:44 and 19:55.

CSUN also placed runners in the 12th, 13th and 15th spots. Junior Ashley Cambaliza finished in 12th in a time of 20:01 and junior Caren Sather took 13th, coming in two seconds behind Cambaliza at 20:03. Freshman Sandra Veladre took 15th with a 20:17 finish. Leslie Ching finished in 21:53 to place her in 27th.

Former CSUN cross country runner Andrea Palacio finished in the top spot with a time of 17:32. Palacio ran for the Matadors during her senior year at Northridge back in 2003.

In the team competition, the women’s team placed 34 points for first place followed by LA Trade with 49 points. Host UNLV placed third (111 points), then Cal State Dominguez Hills (116 points) and East L.A. College (136 points) placed last.

In the men’s 8k run, Ruiz finished in a Matador best 25:37. CSUN posted only one more runner in the top 10. Senior Jacinto Garcia finished second for the Matadors and sixth overall in 26:37:75, bearly beating out L.A. Trades’ Robert Hernandez (26:37:76) and East Los Angeles’ Patrick Valez’s (26:37:77).

Juniors Micheal Stotland (27:40) and Johnathan Tan (28:16) finished in 13th and 15th place.

Other runners for Northridge included Diego Fernandez (30:57), who finished in 25th, and Matt Parnick (32:57), who finished three spots behind Fernandez in 28th.

L.A. Trades’ Romaulado Sanchez took the top spot with a time of 24:47.

In the team competition, L.A. Trade finished in first place with 26 points. East Los Angeles College finished second with 53 points and CSUN placed third with 61 points.

The cross country team will next head to San Luis Obispo to take part in the Big West Championship. The competition is scheduled for Oct. 28.