Sacramento State’s cross country teams ran their way to a fourth-place finish by the men and a fifth-place finish by the women at the UC Davis Invitational to continue a strong start to the season.

Sac State sophomore Dominic Vogl led the men in their 8k race for the second consecutive week with a time of 27:17.50, good for 21st place. On the heels of Vogl was teammate and fellow sophomore Vince D’Ononfrio in 22nd place with a time of 27:19.80.

Assistant coach Juan Vazquez said D’Ononfrio’s performance was a big breakthrough.

“It was the closest I have been to Dom,” D’Ononfrio said.

The Sac State women got a remarkable performance from freshman Erin Wachter in their 5k race. Wachter, in just her second meet at the college level, ran to a 30th place finish with a time of 19:36.50. Senior Michelle Garcia was close behind in 37th place with a solid time of 20:03.30.

“We were very happy with the way the women ran,” Vazquez said. “We are putting the pieces together.”

The invite, held at the Wildhorse golf club in Davis, was won by UC Berkeley in both races.

The Hornets ran close with the Aggies but fell just short of their rivals in the team standings at the finish of the race.

Davis has re-gained the early lead in the Causeway Cup by getting a second-place finish from their men and a third-place finish from their women in cross country to beat out Sac State.

“We appear pretty fit,” Davis cross country coach Jason Jaques said.

The Cup, in its second year, is won by the school that finishes with the most points following 17 sports played between Davis and Sac State. The winner of football, women’s volleyball and basketball (men’s and women’s) gets 10 points towards the race for the Cup. All other sports count for 5 points. Davis won the Cup last year in its inaugural installment.

Sac State held the initial lead for the Cup this year with a 1-0 victory over Davis in women’s soccer on August 26. Following the cross country meet, Davis has 10 points to Sac State’s five.