The Sac State cross country team stumbled a bit Saturday as the women finished in the middle of the pack and the men came in near the bottom at the 57th annual Aztec Cross Country Invitational at Balboa Park in San Diego, California.

All in all, 299 runners laced up for the September 16th event, with teams from Division I schools as well as unattached teams. The field contained powerhouses such as UCLA, USC, and Texas A&M and proved to be the Hornets? stiffest competition to date.

The Hornet men, who won the team competition the week before in San Francisco, finished in 13th place beating UC San Diego and St. Mary?s College. Craig Farley ran the eight-kilometer course in a time of 27:07, which placed him 26th in a field of 152. Forty-two seconds and 29 runners separated Farley from his next closest teammate, Jake Mills, who was the 55th Division I runner to cross the line.

The 13th place finish was not the only glaring difference from one week to the next. Conspicuously absent from the competition for the Hornets was last week?s first place finisher Erik Mencarini. According to Gipson, Mencarini was held out of the meet for unspecified “disciplinary reasons.”

Because a mere 17 points separated Sac State from 10th place CSU San Marcos, the Hornet coaches could only wonder where they might have finished had their top runner competed. “Mentally, afterward, we asked ourselves if Erik was in the race how would things have gone,” Gipson said. “We thought honestly, that we could have ended up possibly as high as eighth or ninth just with his presence.”

In contrast to the men, the Sac State women finished a respectable seventh out of 16 teams. They were led by a compelling effort by Melissa Madeson, last week?s Big Sky Conference runner of the week. Madeson, competing in a field of 147 runners on a five-kilometer course, finished with a time of 17:57 which was good enough for third place overall and second in Division I competition.

As positive as Madeson?s performance was for Sac State, the next Hornet didn?t cross the finish until over a minute later when Tina Limon finished in 19 minutes flat. It was another 1:06 before Annette Corey and Sara Swan both finished at 20:06.

Although the finishes were not quite as impressive as the times turned in a week prior, assistant coach Mike Gipson says they were nothing to be ashamed of, under the circumstances. “Seventh in that company is pretty good, especially if you look at the number of Division I teams below us, like USC for example,” Gipson said.

Also hurting the Hornet?s cause was the minor foot injury that kept Molly Peterson from running. Peterson, who finished 8th last weekend, has run consistently well for the Hornets this season and is expected to be back for the September 23rd Aggie Invitational in Davis.