The Sacramento State men?s and women?s cross country teams were unable to run their way to victory Saturday at the Sacramento Invitational in Rancho Cordova?s Lake Natoma.

The women?s team took the second-place title in this five-team event behind Santa Clara University.

The men finished in third place, as University of California, Berkley claimed the victory with Santa Clara following in second.

“I was pleased with the results,” coach Joe Neff said. “The women made a big turnaround from last week.”

Cal?s Erin Belger won the individual race with a time of 18 minutes, 44 seconds. St. Mary?s College?s Allegra Porter was six seconds behind.

Sac State sophomore Annette Corey took fourth place with a time of 19:30.

Rounding out the Hornets? top runners were Sara Swan in sixth place (19:32), Tina Limon in 13th (20:39), Melicia Wong in 14th (20:45), and Jennifer Burkhalter in 18th (21:06).

“Corey is in very good shape and Swan had a great summer of training,” Neff said.

The Hornet men were unable to get past Cal, which had four of the top six finishers.

Santa Clara?s Thomas Chapman won the individual race with a time of 21:21, with Cal?s Martin Conrad (21:24) following close behind.

The Sac State men were able to place five runners within the top 15, however. Senior Dustin Diaz finished seventh in the individual results with a time of 21:43.

Overall, Neff was pleased with Diaz?s run.

” He had a great summer of training,” coach Neff said. “He is a very good middle distance runner, so it is stretching him out.”Following behind Diaz were Erik Mencarini in eighth (21:50), Dustin Beauchamp in ninth (21:57), Mike Santarosa in 10th (22:10) and Cuco Chavez in 13th (22:33). Up next for the Hornets? cross country squad is the Aggie Invitational, on Saturday, Sept. 22. “(The Aggie Invitational) is traditionally a good race for us. We usually end up in the top three out of 10 or 12 teams,” Neff said.