Sacramento State opened the 2002 cross country season on Saturday with two individual first-place finishes at the Hornet Harrier Classic at Mather Regional Park.

Senior Cuco Chavez finished 17 seconds ahead of his closest competition with a time of 15 minutes, 38 seconds on the three-mile course. Senior Jacob Mills took second-place behind Chavez, and freshman Tom Getchell had a strong performance coming in third with a time of 16:03. The top-three finishes gave Sac State a 13-point advantage over St. Mary’s, earning its first team victory of the season.

“The course wasn’t bad,” Chavez said. “The start had a lot of potholes but there was a lot of space to get into and to move around.”

On the women’s side fifth-year senior Melissa Madeson, returning from an injury that plagued her 2001 season, led the competition with a time of 18:01. Fellow senior Jennifer Burkhalter finished in fourth place, 30 seconds behind her first place-teammate. Rounding out the Hornet’s top three was junior Molly Peterson who finished in 6th place at 18:44.

“I am so thankful to be running again,” Madeson said. “I’m just happy to be out here.”

The Hornets couldn’t keep pace with the University of Nevada, whose five top- ten finishes gave them the first place victory. Sac State settled for second.

It was the first time the Hornets ran at Mather Field Regional Park, a new concept by coach Joe Neff, who sees territory in the vicinity of Sacramento State depleting for the cross country team.

So along with Sacramento County Parks Department, Neff and the University have been working together to develop a facility at Mather Regional Park that would host cross country events for teams all over the region.

Without a home course the Hornets are hampered when trying to bring an event to Sac State. The team usually practices on the American River Parkway, but the course is not feasible for a sanctioned event.

“We are working with the county to develop a course for this region,” Neff said. “The course would be not only for Sac State but for high schools and junior colleges to use also. The university really wants to cooperate with Sacramento County Parks and Rec.”

In the future, once the course is developed, Neff could see the opportunity for the facility to host USA track and field events and possibly bidding on the US National Championships or World Championships in years to come.

As for the season ahead coach Neff is very optimistic about both his men’s and women’s teams.

“Our team is committed to one thing,” Neff said. “We are going to do everything possible to be the best in the Big Sky Conference.”

The major hurdle for the Hornets this season will be their ability to keep everyone healthy and injury free. In the next few weeks Neff expects all of his injured athletes to be ready for competition.

Comming off a sub-par season both teams were picked to finish last in the conferences in 2002, but Neff assures that both teams are determined to prove them wrong.

“I think the (coaches poll) is fair for what we did last year,” Chavez said. “But this year we are going to surprise a lot of people.”

Next Saturday the Hornets will travel to San Francisco for the San Francisco Invitational.