Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams of Sacramento State finished in fourth place at the San Francisco State University Invitational on Saturday.

“I was very pleased with the team’s performance,” said head cross country coach Joe Neff. “We ran with a lot of confidence, and that will really help us in the Big Sky (Conference) Championships.”

California State University, Fresno came out victorious on the women’s side, with a team total of 34 points. The Bulldogs were followed by California State University, Sonoma (68 points), California State University, Stanislaus (69), Sac State (83) and University of Nevada (109).

On the men’s side, it was California State University, Chico that came out on top with 35 points. Following Chico State were University of California, Berkeley (57), Stanislaus State (71), Sac State (92) and Whitman College (126).

“This tough competition is helping us prepare for the Big Sky Championships,” Neff said.

For the third consecutive race, sophomore Annette Corey finished with the best time for the Hornet women. Corey improved on last week’s 34th-place finish at the University of California, Davis Invitational by coming in ninth place with a time of 23 minutes, 3.87 seconds.

Following Corey across the finish line was junior Molly Peterson (23:17.68), who finished in 12th place. This was Peterson’s first race of the year, having been out with a lower leg stress fracture.

“(Peterson) is just getting her competitive legs under her,” Neff said.

Rounding out the Hornet women’s team top-five finishers were senior Sara Swan (18th place, 23:24.23), sophomore Tina Limon (21st place, 23:32.31) and sophomore Amy Cockerham (23rd place, 23:42.87).

Prior to Saturday, Cockerham had not run a cross country race in her life. The University of Oregon transfer and former high school soccer player joined the team last week after Neff spotted her running on the track.

“The women’s team, with the addition of Amy Cockerham and Molly Peterson, has closed the time gap from the first place to fifth place finishers from 1:30 to slightly over 30 seconds,” Neff said.

For the second, consecutive meet, the men’s team was led by junior Mike Santarosa, who finished in 11th place with a time of 26:44.98.

“Mike has really improved due to hard work in the off-season,” Neff said.

Santarosa was followed by senior Cuco Chavez (14th place, 26:49.86), sophomore Dustin Beauchamp (17th, 27:05.59), senior Tony Elwell (21st place, 27:38.32) and freshman Bobby McNeil (29th place, 28:43.31).

The Hornets men’s team will have to go out the rest of the year without senior Dustin Diaz, who is out with a shoulder separation. Senior Eric Mencarini has been out of the past two meets for personal reasons.

The women’s team has also suffered from the injury bug, as junior Melissa Madeson is out for the year with a knee injury.

Neff has made some changes this year in an effort to avoid injuries and to keep his team in top running shape.

“We have tried to schedule our meets every other weekend so our legs will be fresh for the Big Sky Championships,” Neff said.

The Big Sky Championships will be held on Oct. 27 in Cheney Wash.

The Hornets’ next meet will be the Eastern Washington Invitational, also in Cheney, Wash. There, the team will get there first, and only good look at Big Sky competition before the conference championships.