An injury-plagued Sacramento State cross country squad battled its way to a sixth-place finish in the women’s team standings, and an eighth-place finish in the men’s standings at the Big Sky Conference Championships in Cheney, Wash. this past Saturday.

Northern Arizona University took both the men’s and women’s team titles. The Lumberjacks rounded out the event with a team score of 25 points, and the women’s team finished with 19 points. The Hornet men finished with 224 points in their last place finish, while the women finished with 170 points.

“I was pleased with the way the team ran, considering the difficult conditions,” said head cross country coach Joe Neff.

All teams were forced to battle through cold and rainy weather.For the fifth consecutive race, sophomore Annette Corey finished first among Hornet women runners with a 27th place finish, clocking in at 19 minutes, 19.50 seconds in the women’s five-kilometer race.

The men’s team, which was missing three of its top five runners, was led for the second consecutive meet by junior Cuco Chavez. Chavez finished the men’s eight-kilometer race in 36th place (27: 12.30).

The Hornet men’s team was undermanned coming into the race, as they were missing seniors Dustin Diaz and Eric Mencarini. Diaz is out for the season with a shoulder injury while Mencarini is out for personal reasons. Junior Jacob Mills is also red shirting this season.

The Hornet women’s squad has also been hit by the injury bug this season, as junior Melissa Madeson was out for the year with a knee injury. Madeson was awarded with all-Big Sky honors last year, following her fifth place finish in the Big Sky Championships.

Following Corey across the finish line for the Hornet women were sophomore Molly Peterson (30th place, 19: 30.40), sophomore Tina Limon (34th place, 19:44.30), junior Jennifer Burkhalter (39th place, 19:54.40) and freshman Angela Mercado (40th place, 20:01.70). All of the women’s times were improved from their last meet, the Eastern Washington Invitational, which was held two weeks ago. Following Chavez at the finish line for the men’s team was junior Mike Santarosa (38th place, 27:25.10), sophomore Dustin Beauchamp (49th place, 28:51.60), senior Tony Elwell (50th, 29:10.30) and freshman Bobby McNeil (51st place, 29:34.90).Somewhat displeased with his men’s team performance, Neff hopes his young nucleus of talent learned from their last place finish at the championships.

“I think most of the men learned that if you don’t have a solid summer of training, it’s tough to compete in the Big Sky Conference,” Neff said.

The future of Sac State cross country looks promising. All of the top five women’s finishers will be returning next year, as will the top seven men’s finishers.

“The future looks fantastic for both teams,” Neff said.

The Hornets will next compete in two weeks at the NCAA West Regionals. The meet will be held in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 10.