In its first event of the season, the Sacramento State women?s cross country team was outrun by the University of Nevada, Reno in the Hornet Harrier Classic at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova.

The Wolfpack dominated the top of the leader board, having the top four finishers. Kendall Knowles of Nevada finished first with a time of 19 minutes, 08 seconds. Nevada?s Emma Garrad (19:10), Erin Seward (19:30), and Monica Mryhow (19:33) rounded out the leader board for the Wolfpack.

However, Sac State head coach Joe Neff was not disappointed. He was able to get a good evaluation of the team, and now knows what to expect from his team the rest of the season.

“We?re pretty young, and we have a lot of new kids,” Neff said. “We are in one of the toughest distance running conferences (Big Sky) in America.”

For the Hornets, senior Sara Swan led the way, finishing fifth with a time of 19:56.Neff knows Swan will have a lot on her plate as the team will be missing its top two runners, senior Melissa Madeson and junior Molly Peterson.

Madeson is out for the season with a knee injury, while Peterson is ailing from lower leg problems.

“Probably the biggest thing for the team is that we will be missing our top two runners,” Neff said. “Sara is the women?s team captain.”

Rounding out the top five finishers for Sac State were sophomores Annette Corey, finishing 12th with a time of 20:12, and Tina Limon, finishing 14th with a time of 21:01. Finishing 22 seconds behind Limon was junior Jennifer Burkhalter (21:23).

Closing out the top five finishers for the Hornets was sophomore Melicia Wong with a time of 21:31.

Neff knows the team is learning and hopes the squad will come around in time for conference play.

“We hope the learning curve is completed by conference time,” Neff said. “We are one of the top three conferences in America.”

Next on tap for the Hornets is the Sacramento Invitational at Lake Natoma, slated to begin Saturday at 10 a.m.

Both the men?s and women?s team will compete.

The women will host University of California, Berkeley, Saint Mary?s and Santa Clara. Neff knows his team will have its hands full with the competition.

“For the women, I expect improvement,” Neff said. “I expect our three through five runners to step up.

“They had some experience and now it?s time to build on that.”

The Invitational will be the season opener for the men?s contingent.

The teams will compete against University of San Francisco, California State University, Hayward and University of California, Davis.

“They (the men?s team) have been looking pretty sharp in workouts,” Neff said.