The Sacramento State men and women’s cross country teams both placed third in the Hornet Jamboree Saturday morning at Granite Regional Park.

See Collin McGregor’s photo slideshow of the event.

 

UC Davis won the women’s overall team competition with 33 points, edging University of California, Berkeley by 1 point. Sac State came in third with 69 points.

 

Minnesota won the men’s overall competition with 15 points. Fresno State placed second with 91 points over third place Sac State with 93 points.

 

This was the seventh annual Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree. Ten colleges participated in both the men and women’s races. The jamboree also included eight other races involving the top cross-country high schools in the area. This was the fourth year having the high schools a part of the jamboree and the first year expanding to eight races.

 

Berkeley’s Deborah Maier won the women’s 5k race with a time of 16:31. Sac State’s Rachel Mitchell came in fifth place with a time of 17:48. Sac State sophomore Veronica Stinett came in 10th with a time of 18:03 and Lauren Mugnaini finished 12th for the Hornets with a time of 18:07.

 

Hornet head coach Scott Abbott was very happy with Mitchell’s performance and believes she can lead them this season.

 

“Rachel Mitchell is doing a great job leading our team. She is our top returning runner,” said Abbott.

 

“She’s really been coming into her own and seeing herself as someone who belongs at the front of races.”

 

University of Minnesota had complete control of the men’s 4-mile run. Pieter Gagnon won the race with a time of 19:28 followed by four of his Minnesota Gopher teammates.

 

Sac State’s Reesey Byers was the top runner for Sac State and came in sixth place overall with a time of 19:36. Cole Younger came in 10th place for Sac State in 19:44.

 

Coach Abbott thought Byers ran very well and believes Reesey has a huge future ahead of him.

 

“Reesey Byers was phenomenal today,” Abbot said. “He’s a sophomore who is starting to grow into a guy who can be a player on the national stage.”

 

Fans from every school were in attendance supporting their respective teams. There were the sounds of cheers, air horns and even the occasional vuvuzela.

 

“It’s awesome to see so many people out here supporting us,” Byers said. “I’m glad there were a lot of parents and fans that came out to cheer and our team really appreciates all the support.”

 

Coach Abbott was very happy with the performance of both the men and women Hornets. He felt that they took a step in the right direction and started the season very well.

 

The cross country team’s next race will be Sept. 24 at Stanford.