The recent success the Sac State cross country team has enjoyed is a trend they hope continues this weekend at the Aztec Invitational cross country meet in San Diego, CA.

The Hornets kicked off the season with the first home meet in three years and received enthusiastic comments from the other teams that participated. The course, located near the Sac State aquatic center at Lake Natoma, was a big hit with the runners and the meet concluded with hopes of making it an annual event.

The following weekend the Hornets competed in the San Francisco Invitational at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Hornet men and women both put forth convincing efforts and the hard work resulted in first place finishes for both teams.

At the USF meet, Sac State?s Erik Mencarini and Melissa Madeson placed first and second respectively in overall competition for the Hornets. Their efforts were rewarded Sept. 13th when each were announced Big Sky runners of the week, Mencarini for the men and Madeson for the women.

Hornet head coach Joe Neff said the awards were well deserved.

“They?re both running extremely well and they work very hard. Our runners go into every race on Saturday tired,” Neff said.

While recognition for individual achievements is good, cross country is primarily a team sport and is scored as such. The team whose first five runners finish with the lowest aggregate score is the team that wins the meet.

The key to winning, and the reason Sac State won in San Francisco, is a low split time between a team?s first and fifth place runners.

“It?s hard to predict what the finish times will be like, since each course is different,” Neff said. “The split is what we try to focus on.”

The best way to ensure a good split time is to keep the runners together in a pack so they cross the finish line with relatively close times. In San Francisco, the men?s top five runner?s finished with a split time of 1:12 and the women with a split of 2:17.

The times proved to be low enough to win last weekend, but can the team ride the momentum of the last two weeks to further success?

That question could be answered as soon as Saturday, Sept. 23rd, when the Hornets travel to San Diego to run in the Aztec Invitational. Among the teams competing will be the University of Arizona men?s team and a women?s team from UC Irvine, both of which are nationally ranked in the top 20.

In addition to fierce competition, including strong teams from UCLA and San Diego State, the Hornets will be running on a very difficult course.

“It will be the most demanding course we?ve seen. It?s got some major hills,” Neff said. “It?s gonna be a tough weekend.”