Sacramento State cross country opened their new home course at Granite Regional Park in grand fashion getting a win from the men and a second place finish from the women.

“It was good to finally get on our home course,” assistant coach Juan Vazquez said. “The men defended our home and the women had a good fight to the end.”

Sophomore Dominic Vogl distanced himself from the competition to win the men’s portion of the Sac State Open and continued his stellar season.

The men faced off against American River College and came away from the race with a resounding victory.

“We dominated them,” sophomore runner Vince D’Ononfrio said. “We stuck together and raced as a team.”

The women started off the day beating out the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and ARC but coming up just short of the University of Nevada-Reno.

Elite freshman Erin Wachter crossed the finish line in second place and has shown throughout the course of the season she has was it takes to run at a high level.

This strong showing from Sac State comes at the perfect time as they look to carry their momentum from their first home race into their next and biggest race of the season at the Big Sky Championship.

“We did what we had to do in this race and we’re looking forward to the Big Sky Championship in two weeks,” D’Ononfrio said.

Sac State has proven this season it can run with top schools and by running together they can achieve their goal of success.

“There is a good chemistry there between the runners,” Vazquez said. “They are right there to support each other and a lot of these guys are best friends.”

.Unity is something that seems to have come natural to the runners of Sac State.

“We are kind of a family, we are so close to each other and it helps,” D’Ononfrio said.

As this team embarks on their biggest battle of the season, one thing will be for sure, they will do it together.

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Matt Vevoda can be reached at [email protected]